searchString

A search string, or search query, is a sequence of characters used to locate data within a system. It can be entered into search engines, database queries, command-line tools, or software features that support text search.

In different contexts, search strings may include literals, wildcards, boolean operators, and other special syntax that control how the search is performed. The exact rules depend on the search engine or engine in use.

Special characters may have dedicated meanings (for example, % and _ in SQL LIKE patterns, or meta-characters in regular expressions). Many systems require escaping or parameterization to treat such characters as ordinary text.

Examples: In SQL, SELECT * FROM products WHERE name LIKE '%phone%'; In a Unix shell, grep -i 'error' logfile; In a web search, typing "machine learning" searches for pages containing both terms.

Performance and accuracy depend on indexing strategies and search features. Some systems support full-text indexes, stemming, synonyms, and ranked results. Leading wildcards or complex regex can degrade performance.

When constructing search strings from user input, validate and escape data, and prefer parameterized queries to mitigate injection risks. Use quotes for exact phrases, and consider tokenization or normalization for robust matching.