URL patterns with wildcards

Whole domain or precise path

The simplest decision is a rule's reach. The pattern https://example.com/* covers every page on the site — the home page, articles, the admin panel — anywhere the rule should run regardless of what follows the slash. When a fix concerns one specific view, give the full address with no asterisk: https://example.com/admin matches that single path only.

Between those extremes lies a whole range. The pattern https://example.com/blog/* limits a rule to the blog section without touching the rest of the site. That is the core principle: the narrower the pattern, the fewer surprises.

The * wildcard

An asterisk stands in for any string of characters, including an empty one. It works in every part of an address: the protocol, the host name and the path.

• https://*.example.com/* — every subdomain: app, shop, help.
• *://localhost:*/* — a local app on any port and any protocol.
• *staging* — any address containing the word "staging", whatever the domain.

Include and exclude patterns

An include pattern says where a rule should run. An exclude pattern subtracts individual spots from that. Together they describe situations like "the whole site except the cart": you include https://example.com/*, then exclude https://example.com/checkout/*. The exclusion always wins, so the rule will not enter a page where it might break something.

Scope a rule so it does not leak

A rule with an over-broad pattern can fire on pages you never had in mind — a .header selector looks different on every site. The three pattern levels (folder, group, rule) stack, so you can start with a domain at the folder level and trim a rule down to a single path. The rule of thumb is plain: pick the narrowest pattern that still covers every page where the fix makes sense.

SPAs and query strings

Single-page apps change the view without a reload, so the fragment after # or part of the path can be unpredictable. The safest move is to match a stable segment of the address — for example https://example.com/app/* — and leave the rest to the rule's script. Query parameters after a ? are covered by the wildcard too: https://example.com/search* hits the results page no matter which filters the user appends to it.