gui design - Simple implementation for search operators (Begins with, Contains, = etc.)

Wanted to get your input on different methods for implementing these sort of operators for search fields.

I've seen it done mostly by adding an extra dropdown option before each field with these options (Apple uses this method a lot)

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

However this takes up a lot of real-estate on the UI.

I would like to keep it within a single input field and maybe introduce filtering from how the string is entered:

• Contains (default): John


• Begins with: Jo*


• Equals: "John"

This would be a training issue initially, but once you learn it much quicker, and minimal UI impact on current design.