# Wildcards

Wildcards are used to dynamically change the behaviour of nodes within the stream. So that you don't have to use a new node for each condition, you can also choose a placeholder for the condition so that you only have to use a single node.

#### Example:

If you want to control the further course of the stream in a stream that was triggered by the "create project" trigger using a condition that is true for a specific user, for example, you can use the placeholder {user.name}, and as source within the "wildcard condition" node. As a result, this placeholder (the source) is always replaced with the username that triggered the stream and can thus be compared against the desired value.

Another example is the predefined paths in Helmut4 -> Preferences. The path for projects is always used when the placeholder {helmut.projects} is used within a node. This makes configurations simpler and more flexible. Figure 2.4 shows how this works. The field for the value to be checked is filled with a wildcard, which extracts its value from a variable defined in the Preferences. The variable itself is named "AEPX" and has the value "After Effects". Wherever you want to write or use "After Effects" within the stream, it is possible to use the wildcard {helmut.variable.?} And replace the question mark with the key “AEPX”.

<figure><img src="/files/6EmScrICZ1g4xVMHjOMM" alt=""><figcaption><p>Wildcard Replacement</p></figcaption></figure>


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