在查找歌詞、詩歌、短語等,對其中某個單詞記憶或拼寫不準時,用通配符可以快速找到原文。如對戴比·哈里(Debbie Harry)的《Heart of Glass》歌詞首句是“Once I had a lung and it was a gas”,或是
“Once I had a lunch and it was a gas”記不確切,可輸入"Once I had a * and it was a gas"搜尋,可查得正確的歌詞是“Once I had a love...”
解答諮詢時,通配符是快速找到答案的捷徑。如解答"How often doesHalley's cometappear?"(哈雷彗星多少年出現一次?),用"Halley's comet appears every * years"搜尋,可以輕而易舉地得到答案:Halley's comet appears every 76 years 。
Google一次檢索限制在10個單詞以內,檢索詞超過10個將被忽略,此規則不把通配符*包括在內,據此可以檢索超過10個單詞的特定語句。如檢索"There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold and she’s buying a stairway to heaven",google會在“gold”之後截止超量單詞,按常規檢索方法,一般用"glitters is gold"或"buying a stairway"進行檢索,如得不到預想結果,可增加檢索詞,如用:"buying a stairway to heaven" 替代"buying a stairway"再次檢索,如此需多次輸入並進行大量的結果甄別,費時費力,而使用通配符就簡捷得多,用"* * lady * sure * * glitters * gold * she’s buying * stairway * heaven"搜尋,其結果在首頁第一項便滿足檢索需求。
查找派生詞組和了解主題信息,使用通配符也極為方便。如:"take * of"可以查到諸如Take Charge of、Take Control of、take advantage of、Take control of、take command of等等以Take...of組成的詞組;而
"* About Search Engines"的搜尋結果要比"Search Engines"更具體、貼切和實用。
通配符“*”可以在intitle:、site:等搜尋語法中使用,如:intitle:"the* of new york"、site:us "* * search engine * *" 等等。