Pattern

Represents

Example

Finds

.

any single nucleotide

ACCT.T

ACCTTT, ACCTAT, ACCTGT, and ACCTCT (4 possibilities)

..

any two nucleotides

ACCT..T

ACCTAAT, ACCTATT, ACTAGT, Etc. (4 x 4 possibilities)

[CG]

C or G

ACCT[CG]TC

ACCTCTC and ACCTGTC

T{1,n}

1 to n T's

ACGGT{1,3}C

ACGGTC, ACGGTTC, ACGGTTTC

T*

Zero or more T's

ACGGT*C

ACGGC, ACGGTC, ACGGTTC, ACGGTTTC, ACGGTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTC, Etc.

.*?

a string of any length containing any nucleotides

TCGGGGTTAA.*?CTGGACTC

Many possibilities.

Because this allows for so many possibilities, it only recommended with a limited scope of search and/or with very specific (several specified base pairs) on both ends.

.*

the longest possible string of any length containing any nucleotides

TCGGGGTTAA.*CTGGACTC

Differs from the search above in that the longest possible result(s) will be found.

Bear in mind that the result returned from this search with depend on the scope of the search, ie how much of the genomic sequence has been loaded and is available for searching.