# Kql wildcard doesn't seem to work

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kql-wildcard-doesnt-seem-to-work/273216>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Tags:** kql-kibana-query-language\
**Created:** [May 17, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kql-wildcard-doesnt-seem-to-work/273216 "2021-05-17T20:10:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![k1ng87](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/k1ng87/32/88865_2.png) [@k1ng87](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/k1ng87)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kql-wildcard-doesnt-seem-to-work/273216/1 "2021-05-17T20:10:57Z")

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I'm trying to use a wildcard for the `message` field but it doesn't seem to work. I'm trying to look for anything that starts with `async` and filter them out.

In the `message` field, it can look like this: `async.channel.poolSize=0`...so in kql, if I do something like `not message: "async*"`....I still seem to get docs back that begin with async in the message field.

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**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kql-wildcard-doesnt-seem-to-work/273216/2 "2021-05-17T21:06:22Z")

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KQL with wildcards is not a straight forward / obvious as you might expect.

When you put in `"async*"` in quotes it takes the `*` as a literal so it does not match. Also `-` signs can cause some issues. Also be carefull as these queries can be a bit expensive.

try

`not message : async*`

[Here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/current/kuery-query.html) are the docs  
and  
[Here](https://www.timroes.de/kibana-search-cheatsheet) is a nice little article on KQL with some more examples

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<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:** [June 14, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kql-wildcard-doesnt-seem-to-work/273216/3 "2021-06-14T21:06:54Z")

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