A wildcard is a special symbol that allows for the substitution of one or more characters in a keyword search term. This enables you to select multiple files or boxes with a single specification.
In full-text searching with Oracle, two characters may be used for wildcard searching: either the percent (%) or the underscore (_).
A percent (%) wildcard specifies that any characters can appear in multiple positions represented by the wildcard. For example, entering wi%n locates any files or boxes whose description contains the characters typed, plus zero or more characters in the position of the “%”:
Win
Winston
Winchester
An underscore (_) wildcard specifies a single position in which any character can occur. For example, entering Johns_n will locate any files or boxes whose description contains the characters typed, plus any character in the position of the “_”:
Mary Johnsen
Mary Johnson
Jones & Johnson