# Working with wildcards

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/working-with-wildcards/264583>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [February 17, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/working-with-wildcards/264583 "2021-02-17T13:45:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexandros888](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Alexandros888](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alexandros888)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/working-with-wildcards/264583/1 "2021-02-17T13:45:29Z")

</div>

Hello,

When i search in kibana with the following expression:

message: "_.pdf' to SFTP rejected folder (/in/ORDERS/.rejected)_"

I get successfully the results that i want (see image 1)

image 1

 ![image1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/a/b/ab065bebdc3fa8daabe8cd3a291407234534b1e9.png)

But, when i search in kibana with the following (more general) expression:

message: "_.pdf' to SFTP \* (/in/ORDERS/.rejected)_"

I get nothing (see image 2 below)

image2

 ![image2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/c/6/c69df112d965c4af4af9bffc9eb2ee05da5e1774.png)

Why the wildcard character in not working in my search?

Thank you,  
Alexandros

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AClerk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aclerk/32/55297_2.png) [@AClerk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/AClerk)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/working-with-wildcards/264583/2 "2021-02-18T02:15:13Z")

</div>

Don't know why it does not work. Think it is just not supported.  
Try using a filter

```auto
{
  "wildcard": {
    "field_name.keyword": "*search_string*"
  }
}

```

---

<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 18, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/working-with-wildcards/264583/3 "2021-03-18T02:15:40Z")

</div>

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