Thesaurus Linguae Graecae®
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Wildcard Searches

The TLG search engine supports wildcard searches in both Simple and Proximity Word Index searches and Textual Searches. Wildcards let you search for variations of a word or character sequence without entering every possible form individually.

Wildcard searches are useful for investigating different prefixes, suffixes, spelling variations, and recurring patterns in the Greek corpus. The examples below use Beta Code.

1. Searching for Character Sequences

Search expression What it finds
ANA ANA anywhere within a word.
^ANA ANA at the beginning of a word (Word Index) or at the beginning of a line (Textual Search).
ANA$ ANA at the end of a word (Word Index) or at the end of a line (Textual Search).
^ANA$ The exact word ANA (Word Index only).

The symbols ^ and $ anchor a search to the beginning or end of a word or line, depending on the search mode.

2. Searching for Alternative Spellings

Search expression What it finds
AN[AE]DU ANADU or ANEDU.
ANADU|ANEDU Either ANADU or ANEDU.
(ANA|ANE)DU ANADU or ANEDU, using grouped alternatives.
(A\)NA|A\)NE)DU A)NADU or A)NEDU, with the Beta Code closing parenthesis escaped.

Square brackets [ ] specify alternative individual characters. A vertical bar | separates alternatives, and parentheses ( ) group expressions.

3. Excluding Characters and Matching Unknown Letters

Search expression What it finds
ANAD[^U] ANAD followed by any single character except U.
^ANAD..U A word beginning with ANAD, followed by any two characters, then U.

Within square brackets, ^ means “not.” A period . matches any single character.

4. Searching for Optional Sequences

Search expression What it finds
(AN)?EDU EDU or ANEDU.

The question mark ? makes the preceding character or grouped sequence optional.

5. Searching for Numbers and Special Patterns

Search expression What it finds
[0-9] A single numeric digit.
[0-9]+ One or more consecutive numeric digits.
"[0-9]* A quotation mark followed by zero or more digits (a Beta Code escape pattern).

The plus sign + means “one or more”; the asterisk * means “zero or more.”

Special Characters in Beta Code

Important: Some Beta Code characters also function as wildcard operators. To search for one literally, prefix it with a backslash \. This applies to characters such as *, (, ), /, |, and +, in both Word Index and Textual Searches.

For example, A\)NA searches for the literal Beta Code sequence A)NA. The backslash prevents the closing parenthesis from being interpreted as a wildcard operator.

Tips for Effective Searching

  • Use ^ and $ to restrict where a match occurs.
  • Use [ ] to match one of several letters.
  • Use | and ( ) to combine alternative spellings.
  • Use . for an unknown character.
  • Use ?, *, and + to control optional or repeated sequences.
  • Escape literal Beta Code special characters with \.

Wildcard searches offer a flexible way to explore orthographic variation, morphological patterns, and recurring sequences throughout the TLG corpus.