How to Filter Literal Asterisks and Question Marks in a WPS Office Pivot Table
Question details
The user needs to filter Pivot Table items that contain literal asterisk (*) or question mark (?) characters without WPS Office or Excel interpreting them as wildcard symbols.
- Product
- WPS Office Spreadsheets
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- The user is working with a Pivot Table and wants to isolate rows or labels whose items contain the actual characters * or ?.
- Observed behavior
- The Pivot Table filter treats * and ? as wildcard symbols, so it may match too many items or fail to isolate the literal characters.
Open the workbook in WPS Office Spreadsheets and confirm the Pivot Table is active. Click the field filter arrow to open the Filter menu before typing the wildcard escape.
Use Tilde Escapes to Filter Literal Asterisks and Question Marks
This is the fastest built-in method when you need to match the actual * or ? characters in a Pivot Table filter.
Excel and WPS Office use the tilde (~) as an escape character in Pivot Table filter search boxes. Typing ~* or ~? tells the filter to treat the next symbol as a literal text character instead of a wildcard.
In WPS Office Spreadsheets, select the Pivot Table and click the drop-down arrow for the row label or column label field you want to filter.
In the filter search box, type ~* to match a literal asterisk, or type ~? to match a literal question mark.
Check the displayed items that contain the literal character and click OK to apply the Pivot Table filter.
Apply Literal Wildcard Filters in WPS Office Spreadsheets Pivot Tables
Use the built-in Pivot Table filter search box in WPS Office Spreadsheets to enter ~* or ~? and match literal asterisk and question mark characters directly.
- 1. Open WPS Office Spreadsheets: Launch WPS Office Spreadsheets and open the workbook that contains your Pivot Table.
- 2. Select the Pivot Table field filter: Click the drop-down arrow on the Pivot Table row or column label field where you need to filter.
- 3. Type the tilde escape: In the filter search box, enter ~* for a literal asterisk or ~? for a literal question mark.
- 4. Confirm the filter: Select the matching Pivot Table items and click OK to apply the filter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a Pivot Table filter treat * and ? as wildcards?
In Excel and WPS Office, filter search boxes use * to match any number of characters and ? to match one character. To match those symbols literally, type a tilde before them, such as ~* or ~?.
Does tilde escaping work the same in WPS Office Spreadsheets as in Excel?
Yes. In WPS Office Spreadsheets, open the Pivot Table field filter and type ~* or ~? in the search box to match a literal asterisk or question mark.
What if I need to match a literal tilde character in a Pivot Table filter?
Type ~~ in the filter search box. The first tilde escapes the second tilde, telling WPS Office or Excel to treat it as a literal character.
Can I combine a literal asterisk and a literal question mark in the same filter?
A single filter search usually matches one pattern. If you need a combined condition for both characters, add a helper column to your source data that flags items containing * or ?, then filter on that helper column.
