PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

_ (the underscore) is the placeholder for exactly one character.
% (the percent sign) is the placeholder for no, one or more than one character.
%% (two percent signs) is the placeholder for no, one or more than one character, but not for blank space (so that a search ends at word boundaries).

At the beginning and at the end, these placeholders are superfluous.

New online Almagest (Latin)

A transcription of the 'Sicilian' Almagest (A.1.1) is now available at https://ptolemaeus.badw.de/ms/227/327/transcription/1