using wildcards in LDAP search filters queries

Question

I have very limited knowledge in AD and LDAP queries so I have a simple question on how to use wildcards   Supposed there is object with a displayName of  ITSM - Problem Management   My current implementation of the filter with a wildcard is as such    displayName SEARCHKEYWORD     If a user would enter a keyword of  Problem   he wouldn t be able to find the object since it needs the first part of the name  that is  ITSM -    I would like to implement the wildcard on both ends like below    displayName  SEARCHKEYWORD     Ideally  this would allow the entry of  Problem  and have it search for  ITSM - Problem Management   But the wildcard doesn t seem to work when you put it at the start  When I tried it  it just seems to hang-up and not return any results   Any ideas or thoughts on how I can resolve this  Any input would be highly appreciated  Thanks

User · Answer

Your best bet would be to anticipate prefixes, so:

"(|(displayName=SEARCHKEY*)(displayName=ITSM - SEARCHKEY*)(displayName=alt prefix - SEARCHKEY*))"

Clunky, but I'm doing a similar thing within my organization.

User · Answer

This should work  at least according to the Search Filter Syntax article on MSDN network   The  hang-up  you have noticed is probably just a delay  Try running the same query with narrower scope  for example the specific OU where the test object is located   as it may take very long time for processing if you run it against all AD objects   You may also try separating the filter into two parts      displayName  searchstring  displayName searchstring

User · Answer

A filter argument with a trailing   can be evaluated almost instantaneously via an index lookup  A leading   implies a sequential search through the index  so it is O N   It will take ages   I suggest you reconsider the requirement

[filter] using wildcards in LDAP search filters/queries

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