How to search with special values

[Cyril Furtado]

I am indexing a field called location which is the directory  value like
/f1/ccde/bpc
 
When I search  for /f* it  return empty
When I search for f* it returns matching values
If I search for f1* again it return empty (this happens with number
followed by *)
If I search for /* it returns empty
 
I am not sure how to search for when '/' is present or if a number is
present before the *
Can someone please tell me how to search such values?
 
Cyril