diff --git a/doc/Extensions/Alerting.md b/doc/Extensions/Alerting.md
index 92d264e203..bd0b1a7860 100644
--- a/doc/Extensions/Alerting.md
+++ b/doc/Extensions/Alerting.md
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ __Conditions__ can be any of:
 __Values__ can be Entities or any single-quoted data.  
 __Glues__ can be either `&&` for `AND` or `||` for `OR`.
 
-__Note__: The difference between `Equals` and `Matches` (and it's negation) is that `Equals` does a strict comparison and `Matches` allows the usage of the placeholder `@`. The placeholder `@` is comparable with `.*` in RegExp.  
+__Note__: The difference between `Equals` and `Matches` (and it's negation) is that `Equals` does a strict comparison and `Matches` allows the usage of RegExp.  
 Arithmetics are allowed as well.
 
 ## <a name="rules-examples">Examples</a>
diff --git a/doc/Extensions/Device-Groups.md b/doc/Extensions/Device-Groups.md
index cc48cdaad7..c38db06a89 100644
--- a/doc/Extensions/Device-Groups.md
+++ b/doc/Extensions/Device-Groups.md
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ Patterns work in the same was as Entities within the alerting system, the format
 as __tablename.columnname__. If you are ensure of what the entity is you want then have a browse around inside MySQL using `show tables` and `desc <tablename>`.
 
 As a working example and a common question, let's assume you want to group devices by hostname. If you hostname format is dcX.[devicetype].example.com. You would use the pattern 
-devices.hostname. Select the condition which in this case would Like and then enter dc1.@.example.com. This would then match dc1.sw01.example.com, dc1.rtr01.example.com but not
+devices.hostname. Select the condition which in this case would Like and then enter `dc1\..*\.example.com`. This would then match dc1.sw01.example.com, dc1.rtr01.example.com but not
  dc2.sw01.example.com.
 
 #### Wildcards
 
-As used in the example above, wildcards are represented by the @ symbol. I.e @.example.com would match any hostnames under example.com.
+As with alerts, the `Like` operation allows RegExp.
 
 A list of common entities is maintained in our [Alerting docs](http://docs.librenms.org/Extensions/Alerting/#entities).
 
diff --git a/includes/alerts.inc.php b/includes/alerts.inc.php
index f57c102b36..85b897ee68 100644
--- a/includes/alerts.inc.php
+++ b/includes/alerts.inc.php
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ function GenSQL($rule) {
         }
         $i++;
     }
-    $sql = "SELECT * FROM ".implode(",",$tables)." WHERE (".$join."".str_replace("(","",$tables[0]).".device_id = ?) && (".str_replace(array("%","@","!~","~"),array("","%","NOT LIKE","LIKE"),$rule).")";
+    $sql = "SELECT * FROM ".implode(",",$tables)." WHERE (".$join."".str_replace("(","",$tables[0]).".device_id = ?) && (".str_replace(array("%","@","!~","~"),array("",".*","NOT REGEXP","REGEXP"),$rule).")";
     return $sql;
 }
 
diff --git a/includes/device-groups.inc.php b/includes/device-groups.inc.php
index 3e5cee8705..a1573ec03e 100644
--- a/includes/device-groups.inc.php
+++ b/includes/device-groups.inc.php
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ function GenGroupSQL($pattern, $search='') {
         $search .= ' &&';
     }
 
-    $sql = 'SELECT DISTINCT('.str_replace('(', '', $tables[0]).'.device_id) FROM '.implode(',', $tables).' WHERE '.$search.' ('.str_replace(array('%', '@', '!~', '~'), array('', '%', 'NOT LIKE', 'LIKE'), $pattern).')';
+    $sql = 'SELECT DISTINCT('.str_replace('(', '', $tables[0]).'.device_id) FROM '.implode(',', $tables).' WHERE '.$search.' ('.str_replace(array('%', '@', '!~', '~'), array('', '.*', 'NOT REGEXP', 'REGEXP'), $pattern).')';
     return $sql;
 
 }//end GenGroupSQL()