Wildcard search is an essential feature for efficiently retrieving data when exact matches are not known or required. This technique allows you to search for words with missing or variable characters, making it ideal for applications like text indexing, document management, and database querying. In this article, we explore how to perform wildcard search using C#, leveraging a powerful search library designed for managing and searching indexed text data. By implementing wildcard search in C#, you can accommodate complex search patterns while maintaining performance and accuracy, whether you’re working with single documents or large-scale datasets.
Steps to Perform Wildcard Search using C#
- Set up your development environment by integrating GroupDocs.Search for .NET into your project to enable wildcard search functionality in documents
- Instantiate the Index class to create a searchable repository for storing documents
- Add documents to the repository using the Index.Add method, specifying the folder containing the files
- Perform searches within the repository using the Index.Search method
Using wildcard search, developers can handle flexible query patterns by employing placeholders for unknown characters. The ? symbol serves as a C# single character wildcard, matching exactly one unknown character. For example, querying “m?rry” will return results like “merry” and “marry.” More advanced queries can be formed using ?(n~m), which specifies a range of characters. For instance, “card?(1~6)” will match terms such as “cardiff,” “cardinal,” “cardio,” and “cards,” demonstrating the ability to refine searches for words with variable-length suffixes. Here’s how you can implement this functionality.
Code to Perform Wildcard Search using C#
| using GroupDocs.Search; | |
| using GroupDocs.Search.Results; | |
| namespace PerformWildcardSearchUsingCSharp | |
| { | |
| internal class Program | |
| { | |
| static void Main(string[] args) | |
| { | |
| // Apply the license to remove the restrictions | |
| // imposed by the Search library | |
| License lic = new License(); | |
| lic.SetLicense(@"GroupDocs.Search.lic"); | |
| string indexFolder = @"d:\MyIndex\"; | |
| string documentsFolder = @"d:\MyDocuments\"; | |
| // Creating an index in the specified folder | |
| Index index = new Index(indexFolder); | |
| // Indexing documents from the specified folder | |
| index.Add(documentsFolder); | |
| // Search in the index | |
| // Search for 'merry', 'marry', etc. | |
| SearchResult result1 = index.Search("m?rry"); | |
| // Search for 'cardiff', 'cardinal', 'cardio', 'cards', etc. | |
| SearchResult result2 = index.Search("card?(1~6)"); | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } |
Wildcard search offers unparalleled flexibility in text searching by allowing you to query for words with unknown or variable-length characters. The ability to use group wildcard characters in C# further enhances its versatility, supporting both simple and complex query requirements. This functionality is invaluable for building dynamic, scalable search solutions that cater to diverse datasets and user needs. Moreover, the cross-platform compatibility of the search library ensures that you can deploy your solutions seamlessly across different environments, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing robust and platform-independent search capabilities.
Previously, we shared a comprehensive guide on performing search with aliases in a document using C#. For a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough, be sure to check out our article on how to search with aliases in a document using C#.
