The asterisk wildcard in Google Search
In Google, * stands in for a missing word or words, and it works best inside quotation marks: searching "a * in time saves nine" finds pages with the full saying. It fills whole words only, so photo* won't expand to photograph or photography.
How to use it
Put the * where the unknown words go, and wrap the whole phrase in double quotes. The quotes are what make it useful: they tell Google the words around the * must appear in that order.
| Search | Finds pages with |
|---|---|
"a * in time saves nine" |
"a stitch in time saves nine" |
"the path of * resistance" |
"the path of least resistance" |
"John * Kennedy" |
Middle names and initials, like "John Fitzgerald Kennedy" and "John F. Kennedy" |
"error * is not a function" |
Error messages that name different functions |
"cheapest * in" Denver |
Phrases like "cheapest gas in" or "cheapest rent in" near the word Denver |
One * can match more than one word, so "the * of the" matches "the end of the" and "the best part of the" alike. Use one * per gap and keep the fixed words specific; a phrase with too little around the * matches almost anything.
What it can't do
- It won't complete a word. Library catalogs treat
educat*as education, educator and educational. Google doesn't, but it already matches many word variants on its own, so searcheducatoreducationand let it do the work. - It isn't an official feature anymore. Google's own list of search operators currently covers quotes,
site:,-,before:,after:andfiletype:, and doesn't mention *. The wildcard has been a long-standing, undocumented behavior inside quoted phrases, so treat it as a strong hint rather than a guaranteed rule. - Results aren't a complete list. Google shows pages it judges relevant, not every possible fill-in. Use it to jog your memory, not to count variations.
Combining it with other operators
The * works alongside the operators Google does document:
"how to * an asterisk" site:stackoverflow.comlimits the results to one site."the * of the year" -awarddrops pages that mention the word award."* asterisk" filetype:pdflooks only in PDFs.
Where * means truncation
In library databases and research tools, * does complete partial words. This is the meaning people often expect from Google:
| Tool | educat* finds |
|---|---|
| PubMed | education, educational, educator and other words starting with educat |
| EBSCOhost databases | The same |
| ProQuest | The same |
| Google Scholar | Not supported: like Google, it matches whole words |
Each database has its own extras, such as single-letter wildcards and limits on how long the ending can be, so check its help page when exact results matter.
Searching for the asterisk itself
Because * is treated as an operator, a search for a lone asterisk won't find information about the character. Search for the word instead: asterisk symbol, or the name of the one you want, such as heavy asterisk. Or start from our list of every asterisk.