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Truncation
To extend your search, you can use truncation symbols (wildcards) to include, for example, the plural form of a word, or alternative spellings.
There are three different wildcard characters available:
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* - stands for a string of characters of any length (standard sign for truncation in internet)
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? - stands for zero or one character
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# - stands for exactly one character
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For example, to find patents having in the title the word car or cars, type car? in the title field.
There are a number of restrictions on the use of wildcards in particular:
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Wildcards cannot be followed by an alphanumeric character (colo?r is not allowed)
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Wildcards can only be used in the "Title
", "Title or abstract
", "Inventor
" or "Applicant
" fields
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There must be at least two alphanumeric characters preceding a ? or # symbol (for example co? or pa#). A maximum of three truncation symbols is then allowed (for example ca??? will retrieve call, cart, card, care, cable, etc.)
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If three or more alphanumeric characters precede a ? or # symbol, then a maximum of 7 truncation symbols is allowed
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There must be at least three alphanumeric characters preceding a * symbol (co* is not allowed).
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Please note that use of the * symbol can significantly increase the time taken for a search to be performed.
When searching in the "application number
", "priority number
", and "publication number
" fields, you can retrieve all the documents having a particular country code simply by entering the country code (eg GB) in the number field. This rule does not however apply to non-patent literature (XP) documents.
In the classification fields, you do not need to use wildcards (eg A60B is enough).
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