# Is it possible to search elasticsearch to list indices that startswith a particular string (not using the wildcard \*)?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-search-elasticsearch-to-list-indices-that-startswith-a-particular-string-not-using-the-wildcard/75342>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 16, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-search-elasticsearch-to-list-indices-that-startswith-a-particular-string-not-using-the-wildcard/75342 "2017-02-16T14:01:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![shashi0905](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@shashi0905](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shashi0905)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-search-elasticsearch-to-list-indices-that-startswith-a-particular-string-not-using-the-wildcard/75342/1 "2017-02-16T14:01:59Z")

</div>

Currently to list all the indices matching a particular pattern, we use the wild card search using \* to match all the characters like

curl [http://10.171.203.21:9200/someString-\*/address/\_search](http://10.171.203.21:9200/someString-*/address/_search)

to match all indices starting with 'someString-'

Is there any alternative to do this without the \* character ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![danielmitterdorfer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/danielmitterdorfer/32/110510_2.png) [@danielmitterdorfer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/danielmitterdorfer)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-search-elasticsearch-to-list-indices-that-startswith-a-particular-string-not-using-the-wildcard/75342/2 "2017-02-17T10:12:12Z")

</div>

Hi,

yes, you can [refer to multiple indices in different ways](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/multi-index.html).

Daniel

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-search-elasticsearch-to-list-indices-that-startswith-a-particular-string-not-using-the-wildcard/75342/3 "2017-03-17T10:12:31Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.