Using Wildcards in Calibre Searches

wellhousen · 03-26-2023, 12:50 PM

Hello --

I need your help regarding the following Calibre Search syntax...

What I need to know is the syntax for using wildcards in Calibre searches in order to extract books that have part of a word in a column

For instance - if I wanted to search for a book that had "Faith" or "Faith & Gospel" in a column (track_cat) - how would I do this?

As a reference - In MS Excel - I could use "Faith*" in a search to find values with "Faith" and anything appended to "Faith" - such as "Faith & Gospel", "Faith in Churches", etc.

Similarly, what would be the Calibre wildcard(s) to use to find books that had a specific word anywhere in a given column?

Going back to my example above - what is the syntax that may have these values in the column "track_cat" - "American Faith", "Early Faith in the Church", "Necessity of Faith in the American Church", etc.

Again as an MS Excel reference - I would use "*Faith*"

Thank you

Michael

DNSB · 03-26-2023, 01:00 PM

Have you looked in the calibre FAQ at The search interface section? It will give you much of the information you are requesting.

Out of curiosity, what does this have to do with converting ebook formats?

theducks · 03-26-2023, 01:28 PM

<lookup_name>:faith

Lookup name is determined by hovering over the column title

custom columns ALWAYS start with a #

The above is an unrestricted (my words) search. Anything in the column that contains faith

Code:

#usertags:"=Baen CD (from)"

Note the =
That is only an Exact match

Use the Tag browser to build (hold the ctrl key, while clicking additional terms IN ANY SECTION) a couple of searches

But do read the Calibre Help (site) on Searching

chaley · 03-26-2023, 02:06 PM

Moderator Notice
This thread has nothing to do with Conversion. Moved to Library management

03-26-2023, 12:50 PM	#1
wellhousen Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2023 Device: Kindle	Using Wildcards in Calibre Searches Hello -- I need your help regarding the following Calibre Search syntax... What I need to know is the syntax for using wildcards in Calibre searches in order to extract books that have part of a word in a column For instance - if I wanted to search for a book that had "Faith" or "Faith & Gospel" in a column (track_cat) - how would I do this? As a reference - In MS Excel - I could use "Faith" in a search to find values with "Faith" and anything appended to "Faith" - such as "Faith & Gospel", "Faith in Churches", etc. Similarly, what would be the Calibre wildcard(s) to use to find books that had a specific word anywhere in a given column? Going back to my example above - what is the syntax that may have these values in the column "track_cat" - "American Faith", "Early Faith in the Church", "Necessity of Faith in the American Church", etc. Again as an MS Excel reference - I would use "Faith*" Thank you Michael

03-26-2023, 01:28 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 28,664 Karma: 50383856 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	<lookup_name>:faith Lookup name is determined by hovering over the column title custom columns ALWAYS start with a # The above is an unrestricted (my words) search. Anything in the column that contains faith Code: #usertags:"=Baen CD (from)" Note the = That is only an Exact match Use the Tag browser to build (hold the ctrl key, while clicking additional terms IN ANY SECTION) a couple of searches But do read the Calibre Help (site) on Searching

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03-26-2023, 01:00 PM	#2
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 26,133 Karma: 118174943 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Forma, Clara HD, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Have you looked in the calibre FAQ at The search interface section? It will give you much of the information you are requesting. Out of curiosity, what does this have to do with converting ebook formats?

03-26-2023, 02:06 PM	#4
chaley Frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 11,214 Karma: 5422155 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Moderator Notice This thread has nothing to do with Conversion. Moved to Library management