Specify up to 8 search values (also called text items) to search for in the Text 1 through Text 8 fields. Each Search Value can have a maximum of 30 characters. Enter the text you want to search for. All searches are case insensitive and include text contained within another value (i.e., partial words). This means that when searching for "JOHN", all instances of JOHN, john, John, JOhn, and Johnson will be found. Trailing spaces are included in the search value.

The "*" and "?" wildcards can be used in searching. The "?" wildcard represents one position that can be represented by any character. For example, JOHNS?N will find all occurrences of Johnson and Johnsen. The "*" wildcard represents one or more characters--up to 35 characters. For example, searching for JO*SMI will find occurrences of John Smith, Jon Smith, Jonathan P. Smith, Johnnie J. Smith, etc.

Note: When the "*" wildcard is used in a Search Value, the entire Search Value represents up to 35 characters. The actual number of characters used for the "*" portion depends on the number of other characters in the Search Value. In other words, the number of characters represented by the "*" wildcard is reduced by the number of characters in the Search Value. For example, when searching for JO*SMI, the "*" will represent any string up to 30 characters (i.e., 35 characters minus the 5 other characters specified in the search value).

The "[" and "]" characters can be used to search for a specific range of letters. The characters contained within the brackets are the only characters that will be used in the search. Using a range is faster than using a "?" wildcard. For example, searching for "JOHNS[EO]N" would be significantly faster than searching for "JOHNS[?]N". You cannot use a range in the same search value as an "*".

Note: Search Values cannot start with a "?" or "[" character.

Tips: Searches for shorter search values take no less time than searches using the full 30 characters of text. It is quicker to do one Conflict of Interest Search using multiple search values than to do multiple Conflict of Interest Searches with individual search values. Phonetic searches take substantially longer than non-phonetic searches.