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A wildcard is a special character that serves as a placeholder within a sequence. It may be used for Receive Sequences when parts of the received data are unspecified, e.g. measurement readings reported by a serial device. Wildcards can also be used to support parameters in a Send Sequence.

 

The following types of wildcards are available in Docklight:

Wildcard '?' (F7): Matches exactly one arbitrary character (any ASCII code between 0 and 255)

Wildcard '#' (F8): Matches zero or one character. This is useful for supporting variable length command arguments (e.g. a status word) in Send / Receive Sequences. See Checking for sequences with random characters or Sending commands with parameters for examples and additional information.

Other placeholders that allow random data:

Function Character '!' (F12): Bitwise comparison. This is useful if there are one or several bits within a character which should be tested for a certain value. See Function character '^' (F12) - bitwise comparisons for details and an example.