There are two main ways to filter for data that contains specific text characters in Excel:

1. Using Wildcards with Text Filters:

Excel allows you to use wildcard characters like asterisk (*) and question mark (?) within the Text Filters options. Here's how:

- Select the column you want to filter.
- Go to the "Data" tab and click the "Filter" dropdown arrow.
- Choose "Text Filters" from the menu.
- Select the desired comparison operator (e.g., "Contains").
- In the "Criteria" box, enter your text with wildcards.
- Use an asterisk (*) to represent any number of characters (e.g., "rep*" to find "report", "representative", etc.).
- Use a question mark (?) to represent a single character (e.g., "col?or" to find "color" or "colour").
- Click "OK" to apply the filter.

2. Using Custom Filters with Regular Expressions (Advanced):

For more complex filtering based on specific text patterns, you can utilize Custom Filters with regular expressions. This method requires some understanding of regular expression syntax.

- Follow steps 1-3 from the first method (using Text Filters).
- Choose "Custom Filter" from the menu.
- In the "Criteria" box, enter your regular expression using special characters to define the text pattern (e.g., "\d{3}-\d{4}" to find phone numbers in the format -).
- Click "OK" to apply the filter.

Remember, using wildcards is a simpler approach for basic filtering with common characters. Regular expressions offer more power for intricate text patterns but require a steeper learning curve.