# Using search parameters with special characters

You can use special characters such as ?, *, and \, when searching for files and strings, based on the following rules.

Option | Description
--- | ---
* | Searches all items.
abc* | Searches for items that begin with the characters abc, for example, abcd or abctest.
*abc | Searches for items ending with the characters abc, for example, dabc or testabc.
*b* | Searches for items that have the character b anywhere in the name.
a*c | Searches for items that begin with the character a and end with the character c.
"a*" | Searches for items within quotation marks that start with the character a, for example, "a," "ab," or "ad." Note that when you use quotation marks, the specification becomes case sensitive.
abc? | Searches for four-character items that begin with the characters abc and have a single fourth character, for example, abcd.
?abc | Searches for four-character items that begin with a single character and end in abc, for example, dabc.
?b? | Searches for three-character items that have a b in the middle, for example, abc.
a?c | Searches for three-character items that have the character a and c with a single character in between.
ab? | Searches for three-character items that start with ab and end in a third single character, for example, abc.
a\* or a\? | Searches for characters where the * and ? are interpreted literally, for example, a* or a?. The slash represents an escape character. To use a slash literally, enter \\.