How to Manage Wild Cards in Azure DevOps Queries

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If you’re working with Azure DevOps and want to filter work items by tags, you might find that some common methods aren’t supported directly. Specifically, you can’t use wildcards like ‘*’ or partial matches when searching by tags. The Tags field only allows for exact matches with the “Contains” or “Does Not Contain” operators.

Here’s an easy way to handle this limitation and get the results you’re looking for:

One effective solution is to add a custom text field to your work items. This change gives you more flexibility in filtering and makes pattern matching much easier. Here’s how you can do it:

Create the custom field:

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- Use an inherited process (if you haven’t already).
- Head to your organization’s settings and select Process.
- For the work item types you’re using (like User Story, Bug, or Task), add a new single-line text field. You might call it something like PPDependency or CategoryTag.
- Make sure to include this new field on the work item layout so team members can fill it out.
Populate the field:
- Enter values in a structured way, such as PPDependency-service or PPDependency-db.
- You can bulk-edit existing work items or use scripts to update many at once.
Query your work items:
- Use the filter: Field = PPDependency and the operator Contains.
- For example, PPDependency Contains "PPDependency-" will match any tag with that prefix.

This approach gives you full control over your matching criteria. You can set prefixes or specific substrings without hassle. Plus, it’s straightforward to report on these fields later.

Alternatively, if you prefer sticking with tags for simplicity and don’t want to customize processes, you can standardize on a specific tag, such as PPDependency, across all relevant work items. Then, you can quickly filter by that exact tag.

Here’s what to do in that case:

Agree on a standard tag with your team, such as PPDependency.
Make sure everyone adds this specific tag to applicable work items.
Use a simple query: Tags contains "PPDependency".

Keep in mind that this method is quick to set up but relies heavily on team discipline to keep tag names consistent. Unlike the custom text field with pattern matching, this only finds exact tags.

Using these strategies, you can effectively filter work items by name patterns or categories, even within the current limitations of Azure DevOps. Let me know if you’d like more help on setting this up or have other questions!