How to Search contacts using wildcard characters(*,%,?) in salesforce

Question

Please give me answer for "How to Search(box) list of contacts using wildcard characters(*,%,?) in salesforce "

Answer 1

If you are asking in standard salesforce functionality here is the answer : 1. * (Asterisks) match zero or more characters at the middle or end (not the beginning) of your search term. For example, a search for john* finds items that start with john, such as, john, johnson, or johnny. A search for mi* meyers finds items with mike meyers or michael meyers. If you're using sidebar search, an * is automatically appended to the end of the search string. You can use an * at the beginning of a search term in a standard lookup search.

2.? (question mark) Question marks match only one character in the middle or end (not the beginning) of your search term. For example, a search for jo?n finds items with the term john or joan but not jon or johan. If you're using global search, the ? is removed from the end of your search term and isn't treated as a wildcard. You can't use a ? in a lookup search.

Limitations

Wildcards take on the type of the preceding character. For example, aa*a matches aaaa and aabcda, but not aa2a or aa.!//a, and p?n matches pin and pan, but not p1n or p!n. Likewise, 1?3 matches 123 and 143, but not 1a3 or 1b3. You can't search for a ? or * in a search phrase that is enclosed in quotation marks or when Exact phrase is selected in the search scope because they function as wildcards. For example, "my wo?d" matches my wood and my word. A wildcard (*) is appended at the end of single characters in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai (CJKT) searches, except in exact phrase searches. If you're entering search terms in global search, the search box drop-down list gives you the option to search for your term with an * added to the end. For example, type jo in the search box, then select Search for jo* (starts with) to find joan, john, johnson, and other matches that start with jo.

Answer 2

The documentation that Salesforce provides is very good, take a look.

https://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTViewHelpDoc?id=search_unified_wildcards.htm&language=en