The best replacement for wildcards is regular expression.

The best alternatives to wildcards are rated as following:
★★★★★  regular expression

Your alternative for wildcards is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about wildcards, one probably shouldn't forget about grep.

Other search terms related to wildcards and their ratings are:
★★★★★ grep
★★★ wget
★★ xcopy
★★ robocopy
★ instr
find
outlook rules
rename
You have in mind a companion for wildcards and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

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wildcards
regular expression