Family Search Using Wildcards
What are wildcards ? A symbol that replaces or represents one or more letters. The asterisk (*) replaces one or more letters and the question mark (?) replaces a single letter. The Java Tutorials describe: “In generic code, the question mark ( ? ), called the wildcard , represents an unknown type. The wildcard can be used in a variety of situations: as the type of a parameter, field, or local variable; sometimes as a return type (though it is better programming practice to be more specific). The wildcard is never used as a type argument for a generic method invocation, a generic class instance creation, or a supertype.”(1) Why do we use them in genealogy? To help us find misspelled names, transcription errors and to help widen the parameter of our searches. To help us locate records using alternate spellings. How do we use them in genealogy? Check the genealogy database site for search tips and find out i