ANS-0070 · SAVED SEARCHES & FORMULAS
Can Wildcard Characters Be Used to Filter Free Form Text Custom Fields in NetSuite?
NetSuite users can leverage Oracle PL/SQL LIKE operator wildcards to enhance search capabilities on custom free form text fields.
Short answer
Yes, wildcard characters can be used when filtering results in NetSuite using a custom field of type Free Form Text. The Oracle PL/SQL LIKE operator allows for conditional term matching using the percent sign ('%') and underscore ('_') as wildcard operators.
Scenario
When performing searches in NetSuite, users may need to filter results based on a custom field of type Free Form Text. The challenge arises when attempting to match partial strings or patterns within the text field rather than exact values.
Solution
To filter results using a custom field of type Free Form Text with wildcard characters, the Oracle PL/SQL LIKE operator can be employed. This operator allows for matching or testing a conditional term using a wildcard search. The two primary wildcard operators are the percent sign (%) and the underscore (_). For example, if a record contains the string "1234,2334,2212", applying the filter %2334% will successfully return that record. Further details on the LIKE operator can be found at http://psoug.org/definition/LIKE.htm.
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