Searching for layers using wildcards

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The tools we'll be using in this video are

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all contained within the layer property manager palette.

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So let's open it. Now from the home tab of the ribbon,

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you can find it within the layers panel. It's the largest icon there.

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Feel free to resize and position it to your liking.

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We'll start in the upper right corner where you'll see a search box.

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When you click in it,

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the prompt goes away and you'll get a flashing

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cursor along with a very small asterisk behind it.

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This is a wild card character.

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Autocad supports 10 different types of wild cards.

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Probably the most useful of which is the asterisk

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which will match any string and can be used anywhere in the search string.

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Let's search for a layer that we know has the word tree within it.

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Since we don't know exactly where the string falls in the layer name.

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Add another asterisk in front.

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Your filter box should now read asterisk, cursor, asterisk,

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begin typing and enter T and R. You'll see the layer list update in real time,

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finish the string with another E and E

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your search string should now read asterisk,

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asterisk,

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your list should be paired down to two layers,

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one with the word tree and the other with the word trees.

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That's because of the trailing asterisk.

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Remove it to get down to one layer with the word tree in it.

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When you're done, you can click the red X to end your search.

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As you can see, searching with wild cards is a bit of a learned art.

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But once you master it, you'll find it to be extremely powerful.

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The other thing to note, while the technical term of this wild card is asterisk,

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you'll often hear it referred to as star.

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If you do just know that it's the same thing.