A metacharacter is a character that has a special meaning when it is entered as search criteria. Metacharacters allow you to customize your search parameters. This may help to refine the set of records selected as a result of your search.

The following metacharacters are supported by all search options within NLS, provided that they are entered into fields with a data-type appropriate to that operation:


~ (Tilde)

Used to select a range of values. The tilde may be used to select a range in a date field, a string field, or an amount field. The date must be entered in the format mm/dd/yyyy.

Example: Entering 05/12/2000~08/22/2000 into the Setup Date field, and clicking the Get Query button, will bring up a selected set of CIFs (or loans if you are on the loan query screen) that were entered onto the system between May 12, 2000 and August 22, 2000.

Example 2: Entering 10000~100000 into the Current Principal field of Loan Query and clicking the Get Query button will bring up a selected set of loans with a current principal balance between $10,000 and $100,000.

| (Vertical Bar)

Used to select a list of values. This allows you to enter several dates or amounts into a field to be used as search parameters.

Example: Entering 07/05/2000|07/17/2000 into the Setup Date field and then clicking the get Query button will bring up a selected set of CIFs or Loans that were entered into the system on July 5, 2000 or July 17, 2000.

> (Greater Than)

The greater than sign is used to select all values greater than a specified value.

Example: Entering >10000 into the Current Principal field of Loan Query and clicking the Get Query button will bring up a selected set of loans including all loans with a current principal balance which is greater than $10,000.

< (Less Than)

The less than sign is used to select all values less than a specified value.

>= (Greater Than or Equal to)

The greater than or equal to sign is a greater than sign which includes the specified value in the selected set instead of limiting the selected set to those values which are definitely greater than the specified value.

Example: A loan with a principal balance of exactly $10,000 would not be included in the selected set for a search that was based on the search parameter >10000. It would be included if the search parameter was >=10000.

<= (Less Than or Equal to)

The less than or equal to sign is a less than sign which includes the specified value in the selected set.

_ (Underscore)

The underscore is used in searches on text string fields to represent a single character.

Example: If you want to search for all CIFs where the second letter in the last name is O, enter _O in the Last Name field. The underscore represents the first character, allowing it to have any value, and the second character must be in order to match the criteria for the search.

% (Wildcard)

The wildcard represents one or more characters (whereas the underscore always represents one character).

Example: When seaching for a CIF using the Last Name field, entering B% and clicking the Get Query button will bring up a selected set of CIFs with last names beginning with B.

Example2: The same search using the parameter BU% would include the names Buckner and Busch, but would not include Bailey or Bonner.

Note: If the Auto-Wildcard is enabled (in the Actions menu) you do not need to place after the to get all names beginning with that letter. It is automatically assumed to be at the end of all string searches. The wildcard would still be required for the search: B%R, which would return Buckner and Bonner, but not Busch or Bailey. By default, the Auto-Wildcard is on.

ISNULL

Type ISNULL into any field and click Get Query to receive a selected set including all records where that field has no value. (Note: zero is a value and is not null.)

ISNOTNULL

Type ISNOTNULL into any field and click Get Query to receive a selected set including all records where that field has any value.