The wildcard is a special character that helps us to match texts in Excel. This is a very handy tool. Excel has three characters as wildcards to use in formulas: Asterisk (*), Question mark (?), and Tilde(~). While using Excel, performing Find or Replace for these characters can be a problematic task. Here, we will use a sample data set containing Asterisk (*) and will see a couple of methods for Excel to find * character not wildcard.
How to Find * Character Not as Wildcard in Excel: 2 Easy Methods
In this article, we will see two simple methods to find asterisks in Excel. First of all, press CTRL+F and type asterisk (*) in the search box.
When we click Find Next, we will see nothing is happening. So, how to resolve this issue. Let’s see.
Method 1:Â Find * Character Not as Wildcard Using Find and Replace
In our first, method, we will see the use of the Find and Replace option available in Excel.
Steps:
- First, press CTRL+F, and a dialogue box will pop up.
- After that, type ~* in the Find what: search box, and click Find All.
As you can see, all 6 results are displayed here.
In Excel, the tilde is a special character that allows us to escape other special characters. For example, * in Excel search matches any amount of characters, but ~* matches a literal *.
Read More: How to Find Character in Excel String
Method 2:Â Find * Character Using Filter Option
Another method we can use is the Excel Filter option. In the second method, we will see how the Filter option finds the asterisk (*) character as a search value not as the conventionally considered wildcard.
Steps:
- First, select the entire data range, and go to the Data tab, and Select Filter or simply press the shortcut key; CTRL+SHIFT+L.
- Now, type ~* in the search box (as we’ve mentioned earlier the Tilde sign ahead of any special characters makes Excel execute an operation for that character) as shown in the image below.
- Finally, click OK.
That’s it. We have found the values with asterisk characters, here asterisk (*) plays as a search value rather than a wildcard character.
Read More: Excel Find Last Occurrence of Character in String
Recommendation
Using Tilde (~) before any wild card will do the finding of special characters in Excel. For example, if we want to find Tilde, we will type (~~) in the methods above.
Practice Section
The single most crucial aspect in becoming accustomed to these quick approaches is practice. As a result, we’ve attached a practice workbook where you may practice these methods.
Download Practice Workbook
Conclusion
That’s all for today’s article. These are 2 different methods for Excel to Find * Character Not Wildcard in Excel. Based on your preferences, you may choose the best alternative. Please leave them in the comments area if you have any questions or feedback.
