User:K6ka/IRC handbook/Wildcards
So you are probably wondering... what the heck is a wildcard?
In computing, a wildcard is a special character that the computer may interpret as any character in a search or command. On IRC, wildcards are particularly useful for searching and for ban setting.
IRC supports two types of wildcards: * and ?.
*[edit source]
The * (asterisk) wildcard is a powerful wildcard. It can either mean no characters, a single character, or many characters.
For example, searching for fire* will match the following search terms:
fire fireplace firestone firework fire_eating fire_juggling
Searching for fire_* produces this:
fire_eating fire_juggling
The * can get pretty wild at times. For example, if you set a ban on f*d!*@*, you'd ban everyone using the nicks:
fod food fold faded fainthearted famished farced feliz_navidad
And a whole lot more.
?[edit source]
The ? wildcard can be used to substitute for any single character; that is, a single character must exist to replace it. It won't accept a non-existent character or more than one character.
For example, searching for wiki?edia will bring up:
wikipedia wikimedia
Banning ?uck!*@* will ban anyone using the nicks:
buck duck huck luck muck puck ruck suck tuck yuck