Examples

Match a word containing "the": the

Match a word starting with "the": :the

Match a word ending with "the": the:

Match a word containing "a", followed by an unknown letter, followed by "e": a*e

Match a word that does not start with "e": :E

Match a word that would otherwise match "a*t", but the middle character is not an "n": aNt

Match any 5 letter word: :*****:

Match a 5 letter word that contains an "e" somewhere and starts with an "n": ALL of :n****:, e