Googleâs full-word wildcard stands in for any keyword in a query.
Some
search engines support a technique called
âstemming.â Stemming is adding a
wildcard characterâusually *
(asterisk) but
sometimes ?
(question mark)âto part of your
query, requesting the search engine return variants of that query
using the wildcard as a placeholder for the rest of the word at hand.
For example, moon*
would find: moons, moonlight,
moonshot, etc.
Google doesnât support stemming.
Instead, Google offers the full-word wildcard. While you
canât have a wildcard stand in for part of a word,
you can insert a wildcard (Googleâs wildcard
character is *
) into a phrase and have the
wildcard act as a substitute for one full word. Searching for
"three * mice"
, therefore, finds: three blind
mice, three blue mice, three green mice, etc.
What good is the full-word wildcard? Itâs certainly
not as useful as stemming, but then again, itâs not
as confusing to the beginner. One *
is a stand-in
for one word; two *
signifies two words, and so
on. The full-word wildcard comes in handy in the following
situations:
Avoiding the 10 word limit [Hack #5] on Google queries. Youâll most frequently run into these examples when youâre trying to find song lyrics or a quote; plugging the phrase âFourscore and seven years ago, our forefathers brought forth on this continentâ into Google will search only as far as the word âon,â every word after that will be ignored by Google.
Checking the frequency of certain phrases and derivatives of phrases, like:
intitle:"methinks the * doth protest too
much"
andintitle:"the * of Seville"
.Filling in the blanks on a fitful memory. Perhaps you remember only a short string of song lyrics; search only using what you remember rather than randomly reconstructed full lines.
Letâs take as an example the disco anthem âGood Timesâ by Chic. Consider the line: âYou silly fool, you canât change your fate.â
Perhaps youâve heard that lyric, but you canât remember if the word âfoolâ is correct or if itâs something else. If youâre wrong (if the correct line is, for example, âYou silly child, you canât change your fateâ), your search will find no results and youâll come away with the sad conclusion that no one on the Internet has bothered to post lyrics to Chic songs.
The solution is to run the query with a wildcard in place of the unknown word, like so:
"You silly *, you can't change your fate"
You can use this technique for quotes, song lyrics, poetry, and more.
You should be mindful, however, to include enough of the quote that
you find unique results. Searching for "you
*
fool"
will glean you far too
many false hits.
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