Database Reference
In-Depth Information
People use these operators more frequently to find numeric or date information rather than
text. For example,
<10
in a number field finds real numbers less than 10 (like 9). FileMaker
performs the correct function with dates and times as well, in which case Less Than means
before
and Greater Than means
after
.
Range (…)
The Range operator is like the “Greater Than or Equal To” and “Less Than or Equal To” op-
erators combined. The criteria “6/1/2014…11/15/2014” matches those two dates and
everything in between. Just like the other operators, the Range operator is smart enough to
understand numbers, dates, and times, as long as the field contains that kind of data.
Today's Date (//) and Invalid Date or Time (?)
Like the ! operator, these operators can go in a field in Find mode all by themselves. The
double slash is convenient shorthand for the current date. If you're looking for all the pay-
ments due today, you can type // in the Due field more quickly than “July 15, 2014” or even
7/15/2014.
The Invalid Date or Time operator (?) helps when it comes time to clean house. It's possible
to end up with the wrong kind of data in fields that are supposed to hold dates or times (like
“N/A,” “Never,” or “Next Week”). Put ? in the Due field, and FileMaker finds every pay-
ment whose due date isn't valid, giving you an opportunity to fix them.
NOTE
You can mix and match these operators in combination, as long as they make sense. For example, to
find everything after today's date, just search for >
//
instead of >
11/7/2014
.
Any One Character (@) and Any One Digit (#)
These operators are like the wildcard characters you sometimes see in other programs or in
Internet searches. You already saw the “Zero or More Characters” operator (*) at the begin-
ning of this section. It tells FileMaker you're willing to accept some text—
any
text—in place
of the * operator. If you're not ready to go that far, you can instead permit just one character
(letter, number, or punctuation) with the Any One Character (@) operator. When matching
numbers, you can be even more specific, permitting just one numerical digit with the Any
One Digit (#) operator. Here are a few examples:
▪
*smith*
matches “Smith,” “blacksmith,” “Smithsonian,” and “blacksmiths”
▪
*smith
matches “Smith” and “blacksmith,” but not “blacksmiths” or “Smithsonian”
▪
smith@
matches “smithy” but not “Smith” or “smithers”
