Folks

How do I find OXF1-30-D-G1, OXF2-42-D-G1, etc, in a list that includes some 20,000 different variations of OXFsomethingGsomething? I have tried OXF*G1, but it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong? I used to be able to perform this find in earlier versions of the program, but I know FM changed somethings in 7.

8.5 Advanced

.... no that should work. The * wildcard represents any number of unknown characters, even 0. Are you sure it's a text field and not a number field?

Yes, I have even exported the field to a seprate file to eliminate the chance that corruption it the culprit. I have attached the file so that oters can exam it. I have tried OXF*G1 till I am blue in the face.

Search.fp7.zip

Edited February 19, 200718 yr by Guest

Hmmm weird, the only thing i can get to work is *G1 but that's not really of any use to you. Guess we'll have to wait for someone else.

I don't know the why but I can get it to work by searching for

OXF * G1

and putting spaces before and after the *

I hope this is a file issue because I have done reporting before using a similar technique.

EDIT:

I suspected it had something to do with the hyphens and by removing the hyphens the search worked as expected. I even tried replacing the hyphens with underscores and it still did not work.

Edited February 19, 200718 yr by Guest
Did some Research

Maybe OXF*-*-*-G* ?

Similar Issue

Limited Reference to Dashes

I too think it is similar, and the solution is the same: search for OXF G1 (two words).

See also here.

Try:

==OXF*G1

That searches the whole field, which works out for your test file.

But why go to unindexed search, when an indexed method is available?

Folks

Thanks, I will instuct our people to place a space after or before the asterisk. I remember this being talked about earlier when 7 came out, but it clearly has slipped my weak mind.

Thanks again to all.

Vince Dolan

Waymar Industries

The search will still be indexed. FileMaker has two indexes on text fields, individual words, and values (up to a newline). The value index will be used here on the prefix, and the end part will be scanned. With a mere 20K records, this appears instant to me.

This technique has the advantage of being more like what was being used pre-7.0, to minimize the work Earth Squirrel needs to do to change this over. Also, searching for G1 as a word like you suggest is going to find "G13", "G14", etc, which I assume was not desired.

I will instuct our people to place a space after or before the asterisk.

The asterisk is not required - it's the space that makes the difference.

With a mere 20K records, this appears instant to me.

I tried it with the provided file, and I see a noticeable lag.

Also, searching for G1 as a word like you suggest is going to find "G13", "G14", etc, which I assume was not desired.

Easily fixed by:

OXF =G1