Skip to main content
Version: 2026.0

WildcardTerm

Creates a wildcard term of the index search. It allows searches with the wildcards * and ? for a term.

  • *: matches zero or more sequential characters.

  • ?: matches a single character.

As all term typs this type supports the standard functions for setting the field name (entity and index) and the search weighting (boost). The term provides functions for easily creating expressions for matching prefixes (foo*) and postfixes (*foo). It is possible to use both options to get an expression that represents contains (*foo*). NOTE: This function will always create a prefix term by default e.g. foo*. Additional wildcards can also be defined via the value itself. e.g. T?m for matching Tim and Tom. NOTE: Do not add unescaped quoted values ( phrases ), multiple values/words separated by whitespaces (phrases or groups), or values defining a fuzzy search ( ~ ). This will result in an invalid configuration that can not be searched or returns unexpected results. A postfix (*foo) is only generated if this is permitted by the property indexsearchAllowLeadingWildcards, otherwise the flag is ignored. The term object must be added to an IndexPatternConfig or a group term in order to create an index search pattern.

Methods

getBoost

getBoost(): number

Returns the boost factor for this therm. The index search provides the relevance level of matching documents based on the terms found. Boosting allows you to control the relevance of a result document by boosting its term. The higher the boost factor, the more relevant the term will be. The default boost factor for each term is 1.0. The boost factor must always be a positiv value grater the 0.0.

Returns

number

The boost factor of this term.


getEntityField

getEntityField(): string

Returns

string

The defined entity field in which to search for the value. null if not set.


getIndexField

getIndexField(): string

Returns

string

The defined index field in which to search for the value. null if not set.


getValue

getValue(): string

The searched value represented by this term.

Returns

string

The value to be searched for as a string.


isApplyLeadingWildcard

isApplyLeadingWildcard(): boolean

Flag for the automatic generation of a postfix term with a leading wildcard. A postfix (*foo) is only generated if this is permitted by the indexsearchAllowLeadingWildcards property. Otherwise, the flag is ignored.

Returns

boolean

true, if a postfix is generated.


isApplyTrailingWildcard

isApplyTrailingWildcard(): boolean

Flag for the automatic generation of a prefix term (foo*) with a trailing wildcard.

Returns

boolean

true, if a postfix is generated.


setApplyLeadingWildcard

setApplyLeadingWildcard(pApplyLeadingWildcard): WildcardTerm

Sets the flag for the automatic generation of a postfix term with a leading wildcard. A postfix (*foo) is only generated if this is permitted by the indexsearchAllowLeadingWildcards property. Otherwise, the flag is ignored.

Parameters

pApplyLeadingWildcard
boolean

true if a prefix term should be generated.

Returns

WildcardTerm

setApplyTrailingWildcard

setApplyTrailingWildcard(pApplyTrailingWildcard): WildcardTerm

Sets the flag for the automatic generation of a prefix (foo*) term with a trailing wildcard.

Parameters

pApplyTrailingWildcard
boolean

true if a prefix term should be generated.

Returns

WildcardTerm

setBoost

setBoost(pBoost): WildcardTerm

Specifies the boost factor for this therm. The index search provides the relevance level of matching documents based on the terms found. Boosting allows you to control the relevance of a result document by boosting its term. The higher the boost factor, the more relevant the term will be. The implicit default boost factor for each term is 1.0. To increase the relevance specify a value greater then 1.0, e.g. 1.5. To decrease the relevance specify a value lower then 1.0, e.g. 0.5. The boost factor must always be a positiv value grater the 0.0.

Parameters

pBoost
number

the boost factor of this term.

Returns

WildcardTerm

setEntityField

setEntityField(pEntityField): WildcardTerm

Specifies the entity field in whose corresponding index field to search for the value. If not set, the value of the term is searched in all search fields specified in the IndexQuery. The names of the entity field must start with the defining entity, e.g. person_entity.FIRSTNAME. You can specify whether the index field defined for value or displayValue should be used, e.g. person_entity.FIRSTNAME.displayValue. If not specified, the index field defined for value is returned. The index field is looked up when calling searchIndex. The search fails if no index field can be determined for the specified entity field.

Parameters

pEntityField
string | number | boolean

the name of the entity field.

Returns

WildcardTerm

setIndexField

setIndexField(pIndexFieldName): WildcardTerm

Specifies the index field in which to search for the value. If not set, the value of the term is searched in all search fields specified in the IndexQuery.

Parameters

pIndexFieldName
string | number | boolean

the name of the index field.

Returns

WildcardTerm

setValue

setValue(pValue): WildcardTerm

Sets the value to search for. The value can not be null.

Parameters

pValue
string | number | boolean

The new value to search for.

Returns

WildcardTerm

Example

<code>import("system.indexsearch");

// This example is meant to show syntax.

// Constructs a new prefix term 'foo*'
var term = indexsearch.createWildcardTerm("foo")

// Constructs a postfix term '*foo'
term.setApplyLeadingWildcards(true)
.setApplyTrailingWildcards(false);

// creates a 'contains' term '*foo*'
term.setApplyLeadingWildcards(true)
.setApplyTrailingWildcards(true);

// Wenn using the default initial term only leading wildcards need to be applied
// to define a 'contains' expression
term = indexsearch.createWildcardTerm("foo")
.setApplyLeadingWildcards(true);

// specifies a field and a boost for the term.
// 'field_value:*foo*^1.3'
term.setEntityField("entityName.FIELD.value")
.setBoost(1.3);

var patternConf = indexsearch.createPatternConfig().or(term);
</code>