# Wildcard for variables **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions about Thunkable X\ **Tags:** variables\ **Created:** [July 18, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153 "2021-07-18T15:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![overshield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19b73/32.png) [@overshield](https://community.thunkable.com/u/overshield)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/1 "2021-07-18T15:23:15Z")
I’m wanting to change multiple objects in Firebase. Instead of creating blocks for each one I want to auto adjust all that exist. Is there a wildcard I can enter here that will find all that exist? I searched the forums for wildcard and nothing came up, maybe there’s a different section for this. Here’s an example of my blocks ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/uploads/thunkable/original/3X/a/c/ac040a85cf2a435c5b9144857cbf51b73ea26640.png) ---
**Author:** ![overshield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19b73/32.png) [@overshield](https://community.thunkable.com/u/overshield)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/2 "2021-07-18T15:33:08Z")
I guess I can just perform this in a ‘for each item j’ block and make a list of what I need, but a wildcard would be faster and more efficient in case of future changes. ---
**Author:** ![tatiang](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/tatiang/32/55482_2.png) [@tatiang](https://community.thunkable.com/u/tatiang)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/3 "2021-07-18T16:54:36Z")
Yes, you need to use a loop for this. ---
**Author:** ![overshield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19b73/32.png) [@overshield](https://community.thunkable.com/u/overshield)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/4 "2021-07-18T17:38:48Z")
Ok alternatively, would there be a way to loop and exclude certain terms? Like you could exclude terms with the character ! or something similar ---
**Author:** ![tatiang](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/tatiang/32/55482_2.png) [@tatiang](https://community.thunkable.com/u/tatiang)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/5 "2021-07-19T01:39:15Z")
Yes. But don’t think of it as looping through only certain items. Rather, you’re looping through the whole data set and only taking action on some items based on a condition. So within your loop, use an `If/Else` block and take action if — for example — a value is not equal to “!” ---
**Author:** ![overshield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19b73/32.png) [@overshield](https://community.thunkable.com/u/overshield)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/6 "2021-07-19T03:26:26Z")
That sounds like the solution I need, where would that go in the blocks I pasted above? ---
**Author:** ![tatiang](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/tatiang/32/55482_2.png) [@tatiang](https://community.thunkable.com/u/tatiang)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/7 "2021-07-19T04:15:07Z")
I have no idea because I can’t see your whole loop. But as you loop through the items, you can use the [does contain](https://docs.thunkable.com/text#does-string-contain) block in the `Text` drawer to check. ---
**Author:** ![ioannis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/ioannis/32/146956_2.png) [@ioannis](https://community.thunkable.com/u/ioannis)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 1:19pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/wildcard-for-variables/1402153/8 "2024-11-08T13:19:41Z")