I’ve been playing around with JIRA Query Language (JQL) and noticed something weird. When I use an asterisk (*) in my queries, I get different results compared to when I don’t use it. But I can’t figure out why or what it actually does.
I know JQL doesn’t support regular expressions, which is a bummer. So what’s the deal with the asterisk? Does it have any special meaning or function?
I’ve tried looking it up, but haven’t found a clear explanation. Has anyone here used the asterisk in their JQL queries? What was your experience? Did you notice any patterns in how it affects the search results?
Any insights would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!
I’ve been using JIRA for years, and the asterisk (*) in JQL queries can be a bit tricky. From my experience, it acts as a wildcard character, but only for certain fields and in specific contexts.
When used in text-based fields like summary or description, the asterisk allows for partial matching. For example, ‘summary ~ “bug*”’ would match issues with summaries starting with ‘bug’. However, it doesn’t work the same way for all fields.
One gotcha I’ve encountered is that the asterisk doesn’t work with the ‘=’ operator, only with ‘~’. Also, it’s not as flexible as true regex - you can’t use it in the middle of a word, for instance.
I’ve found it most useful for project or issue key searches, like ‘project ~ ABC*’ to find all projects starting with ‘ABC’. Just remember, its behavior can be inconsistent across different JIRA versions and configurations, so always test your queries thoroughly.
The asterisk in JIRA JQL queries is indeed a bit of a mystery at first. I’ve found it’s primarily useful for partial matching in certain text fields. It works well with the ‘~’ operator for fields like summary, description, and issue keys.
For example, ‘summary ~ “feature*”’ will match issues with summaries starting with ‘feature’. It’s particularly handy for project searches too, like ‘project ~ “TECH*”’ to find all projects beginning with ‘TECH’.
However, it’s important to note that the asterisk isn’t a full-fledged wildcard. It only works at the end of a string, not in the middle or beginning. Also, its behavior can vary depending on your JIRA version and setup.
In my experience, while useful, it’s not as powerful as true regex. Always test your queries to ensure they’re returning the expected results.
yo, i used the asterisk as a makeshift wildcard in jql. works in text fields with ‘~’ so ‘summary ~ “urgent*”’ catches urgent stuff. it’s limited – only at word ends and not with ‘=’. not as versatile as regex, but it does the trick sometimes.