FAQ: How can I perform wildcard searches in Full-Text Search?

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Question

 I want to do a wildcard search using Full-Text Search. For example, I want to know the books that have "Chain" in their names.

 
Answer

When using the CONTAINS predicate in Full-Text Search, you can enclose the search condition (word or phrase) in double quotation marks ("") and add an asterisk (*) before the ending quotation mark.

SELECT BookID,BookTitile

FROM Books

WHERE CONTAINS(BookTitile,' "Chain*" ')

 

By this way, all records have a match of words or phrases beginning with "Chain" will be returned. 

However, if you specify "*Chain" or "Ch*ain", you will not get the expected result. The asterisk will be considered as a normal punctuation mark not a wildcard character.  

 

More Information

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187787.aspx

Applies to 

SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2008 R2