This article explains the rules for using wildcards when creating exclusions with ENS, MOVE AV Multi-Platform, or VSE.

Using wildcards when creating exclusions

Wildcards (?, *, **) are helpful in creating exclusions, but certain rules apply. See the examples below.

• The question mark (?) wildcard is used to represent a single character in the exact position where it is placed in the path or file name.
• The asterisk (*) wildcard is used to represent one or more characters, and does not cross a folder boundary.
• The double asterisk (**) wildcard is used to represent one or more characters, and does cross folder boundaries.
• System Environmental Variables such as %SystemRoot% can be used in exclusions. User Environmental Variables such as %UserProfile% can't be used, because the on‑access scanner runs under the Windows Local System account.

To show the difference between the * and ** wildcards, C:\Users\Will* matches path names such as C:\Users\William, C:\Users\Willamina, and C:\Users\WillAnderson. It does not match any subfolder of those names. For example C:\Users\Will*\** matches the previous folders and all their subfolders.

Wildcard examples
 

Example	Comments
**\Temp\test.docx	Exclude a specific file in a folder named Temp anywhere on the system.
**\test.docx	Exclude a specific file anywhere on the system.
D:\**\test.docx	Exclude a specific file in any folder on a specific drive. The drive letter must be included in the wildcard. In this example, any test.doc files on the D: drive are excluded: D:\**\test.doc
Users\**\Documents\Microsoft User Data\	Exclude any folder under Users and any folder under User Data.
C:\Documents and Settings\**\Favorites\	Exclude the Favorites folder for all users.
C:\**\Favorites\	Exclude any folder named Favorites on drive C.
**\Temp\**	Exclude the Temp folder in any location, on any drive and any subfolders contained in the "Temp" directory. In this example, the following directories would be excluded: C:\temp D:\windows\temp\Folder1 c:\documents and settings\Administrator\Local Settings\temp
**\Temp\*.tmp	Exclude any file with a .tmp extension in a folder named Temp anywhere on the system.
**\*.html	Exclude any file with an .html extension anywhere on the system.
C:\Windows\Temp*\inifile?.*	Excludes all files named inifileX, where X is any valid character for a file name. Exclude all files named inifileX in any folder name beginning with Temp under C:\Windows.
D:\**\*.tmp	Exclude all files with the .tmp extension (*.tmp) in any folder on a specific drive. The drive letter must be included in the wildcard. In this example, any *.tmp files on the D: drive are excluded.
C:\Temp\abc* or C:\Temp\abc*\	Exclude all file and folder names beginning with abc under C:\Temp. NOTE: A single asterisk, independent of a backlash at the end, matches both file and folder names beginning with abc under C:\Temp.
C:\Temp\abc*.*	Exclude only file names beginning with abc under C:\Temp.
C:\Temp\abc*\*.*	Exclude only files of any extension in any folder name beginning with abc under C:\Temp.
C:\Temp\abc*\xyz*.txt	Exclude only files names beginning with xyz and with the txt extension, in any folder name beginning with abc under C:\Temp.
C:\Temp\abc	Exclude only a file named abc under C:\Temp.
C:\Temp\abc\	Exclude only a folder named abc under C:\Temp.