To search for words that have spelling variations or contain a specified pattern of characters, you can use the *wildcard to represent the variations. The * wildcard represents zero, one, or multiple alphanumeric characters in the position it occupies.
Wildcard matches are enabled within the type-ahead feature, which allows IEEE Xplore to suggest complete words as you type a keyword when browsing or doing a global search.
Notes:
The * wildcard can appear at the end of a word to find words with different endings, at the beginning of a word, or in the middle of a word to find words containing a specified pattern of characters.
You must have at least three characters to use the * wildcard.
You can use up to five * wildcards per search.
You cannot use the * wildcard within quotation marks when specifying an exact match.
You cannot use the * wildcard in a full-text search.
You cannot use the * wildcard with proximity operations (NEAR and ONEAR).
Wildcard matching must match all characters explicitly specified. If you enter the keyword cable*, IEEE Xplore matches cabled but not cabling, because there is no e to match.
The * wildcard can match words that are stem variations that the automatic stem variations in normal IEEE Xplore searching does not find. For example, computer will only match computers, but computer* will also match computerize.
Examples:
electro*
Matches electron, electrons, electronic, electronics, electromagnetic, electromechanical, and electrostatic.
*optic
Matches optic,fiber-optic, electrooptic, acoustooptic, etc.
me*n
Matches men, mean, median, and any other word that begins with me and ends with n.