Feature request: Wildcard *'s for domains in element rules

Various discussions related to Adblock Plus development
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Dandelion Sprout
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:40 am
Location: Trondheim, Norway
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Feature request: Wildcard *'s for domains in element rules

Post by Dandelion Sprout »

Greetings, Imre Eilertsen here, the maintainer of Dandelion Sprout's Norwegian List, known from subscriptions.

I wish for Adblock Plus to be able to support wildcard asterisks for domains that are used in element blocking rules (i.e. ones that use ##, and not just ||). As an example regarding Google entries, instead of listing every single Google domain in existence, as in google.ad,google.ae,google.al,google.am,google.as,google.at,google.az,google.ba,google.be,google.bf,google.bg,google.bi,google.bj,google.bs,google.bt,google.by,google.ca,google.cat,google.cd,google.cf,google.cg,google.ch,google.ci,google.cl
,google.cm,google.cn,google.co.ao,google.co.bw,google.co.ck,google.co.cr,google.co.id,google.co.il,google.co.in,google.co.jp,google.co.ke,google.co.kr,google.co.ls,google.co.ma,google.co.mz,google.co.nz,google.co.th,google.co.tz,google.co.ug,
google.co.uk,google.co.uz,google.co.ve,google.co.vi,google.co.za,google.co.zm,google.co.zw,google.com,google.com.af,google.com.ag,google.com.ai,google.com.ar,google.com.au,google.com.bd,google.com.bh,google.com.bn,google.com.bo,google.com.br,
google.com.bz,google.com.co,google.com.cu,google.com.cy,google.com.do,google.com.ec,google.com.eg,google.com.et,google.com.fj,google.com.gh,google.com.gi,google.com.gt,google.com.hk,google.com.jm,google.com.kh,google.com.kw,google.com.lb,
google.com.ly,google.com.mm,google.com.mt,google.com.mx,google.com.my,google.com.na,google.com.nf,google.com.ng,google.com.ni,google.com.np,google.com.om,google.com.pa,google.com.pe,google.com.pg,google.com.ph,google.com.pk,google.com.pr,
google.com.py,google.com.qa,google.com.sa,google.com.sb,google.com.sg,google.com.sl,google.com.sv,google.com.tj,google.com.tr,google.com.tw,google.com.ua,google.com.uy,google.com.vc,google.com.vn,google.cv,google.cz,google.de,
google.dj,google.dk,google.dm,google.dz,google.ee,google.es,google.fi,google.fm,google.fr,google.ga,google.ge,google.gg,google.gl,google.gm,google.gp,google.gr,google.gy,google.hn,google.hr,google.ht,google.hu,google.ie,google.im,
google.iq,google.is,google.it,google.je,google.jo,google.kg,google.ki,google.kz,google.la,google.li,google.lk,google.lt,google.lu,google.lv,google.md,google.me,google.mg,google.mk,google.ml,google.mn,google.ms,google.mu,google.mv,
google.mw,google.ne,google.nl,google.no,google.nr,google.nu,google.pl,google.pn,google.ps,google.pt,google.ro,google.rs,google.ru,google.rw,google.sc,google.se,google.sh,google.si,google.sk,google.sm,google.sn,google.so,google.sr,
google.st,google.td,google.tg,google.tk,google.tl,google.tm,google.tn,google.to,google.tt,google.vg,google.vu,google.ws##.example
, a simple wildcard could've shortened it to simply google.*##.example.

This'd have worked wonders for a fair few filterlists that exist out there, and would've made it easier to slim down lists to make them less resource-taxing on a user's browser. A particular technical example is one of the very informal lists that I maintain at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dande ... 20List.txt (and which due to its topic I logically enough don't expect for it to be included in ABP or anything like that), whose wildcard asterisks allowed me to shrink ≥100 entries down to just 8. This functionality has been supported in uBlock Origin and Nano Adblocker for some time, and I think it'd be beneficial for Adblock Plus to support it as well.

I see that the topic has been partially addressed in forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=54983 and forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54351, though they didn't state specific reasons (that I could see) for why this feature has not been included in ABP, so that's in part why I'm hereby making a formal request to include this feature and/or to hear out any arguments on why to not include it.
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mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Feature request: Wildcard *'s for domains in element rules

Post by mapx »

Change ticket already on bug tracker
https://issues.adblockplus.org/ticket/6773

You could add your comments there (register a user), if you want I can add you on CC
Dandelion Sprout
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:40 am
Location: Trondheim, Norway
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Re: Feature request: Wildcard *'s for domains in element rules

Post by Dandelion Sprout »

Ah, great to know. I've wrote my two cents about this on the ticket thread now, then.
Dandelion Sprout
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:40 am
Location: Trondheim, Norway
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Re: Feature request: Wildcard *'s for domains in element rules

Post by Dandelion Sprout »

I must also admit that I don't know what Cc refers to, as this is the first time I've really used the ABP issue tracker. As such, my comment there was apparently posted with my E-mail address instead of a username, which is fine enough for me.
ryanp47
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Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:07 pm
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Re: Feature request: Wildcard *'s for domains in element rules

Post by ryanp47 »

Thanks you guys for this detail information.
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