Wildcards in Search and Replace Activities

[Dapscoptyltd]

There are a number of resources I've found: The Microsoft Word MVP FAQ Site The Microsoft Word MVP General information Site Pcworld Some from Rhonda Bracey More from Rhonda For help with leaving part of the wildcard experssion during replace TechRepublic info

Any single character	?	s?t finds "sat" and "set."
Any string of characters	*	s*d finds "sad" and "started."
One of the specified characters	[ ]	w[io]n finds "win" and "won."
Any single character in this range	[-]	[r-t]ight finds "right" and "sight" and "tight."Ranges must be in ascending order.
Any single character except the characters inside the brackets	[!]	m[!a]st finds "mist" and "most" but not "mast."
Any single character except characters in the range inside the brackets	[!x-z]	t[!a-m]ck finds "tock" and "tuck" but not "tack" or "tick."Ranges must be in ascending order.
Exactly n occurrences of a character or expression	{ n}	fe{2}d finds "feed" but not "fed."
At least n occurrences of a character or expression	{ n,}	fe{1,}d finds "fed" and "feed."
A range of occurrences of a character or expression	{ n, n}	10{1,3} finds "10," "100," and "1000."
One or more occurrences of a character or expression	@	lo@t finds "lot" and "loot."
The beginning of a word	<	<(inter) finds "interesting" and "intercept" but not "splintered."
The end of a word	>	(in)> finds "in" and "within," but not "interesting."
A year "YYYY"	([0-9]{1,2})([0-9]{2})	Finds '2024' or such.

[Dapscoptyltd]

Okay. So I needed to try and replace "Gate 0"; "Gate 1"; "Gate 2" and so on with a hyphenated construction. I tried this: Search: ([Gate])( )([0-9]) Replace: \1-\3

My thinking was logical, but flawed.

• I reasoned there were three sections to this search:
  1. ([Gate])
  2. ( )
  3. ([0-9])
• My replace logic had it that the replace function would remove the space and keep numbers 1. and 3.
• This worked for text I had pasted as a text set, giving me "Gate-0"; "Gate-1"; "Gate-2" and so on, but a bug appeared after fifteen to twenty changes in the first regular paragraph where the result would become:

  "Gate0-"; "Gate1-"; "Gate2-" and so on.

It took me a while, but: Search: ([Gate])( 0) Replace: \1-

• This worked, giving me "Gate-0"; "Gate-1"; "Gate-2".
• My interpretation is that the combination of three sections was too complex for the underlying replace code to deal with.

Searches refined and used during preparation of legal documents:

Find:^t Replace:|+

Find:[0-9].[0-9]|+ Replace:Empty

Find:[0-9][0-9].[0-9]|+ Replace:|+ Style Level: Award Heading 3

Find: (*)|+ Style Level: Level 4A Replace:|+ Style Level: Award Heading 4

Find: [1-9][0-9].^space^space Style Level: Award Heading 1 Replace:|+ Style Level: Award Heading 1

(([a-z])++) This term found this numbering format:

(a)++ without selecting something like (Sailors ...) other text.

(b)++.

[Dapscoptyltd]

Remember that with wild cards, caret character searches don't work - like the paragraph mark...

[Dapscoptyltd]

^=([ High]) finds -- High. Replace with :\1 places: : High.

[Dapscoptyltd]

To find 'FY YYYY--YY' use: FY ([0-9]{1,2})([0-9]{2})(–[{2,}][0-9]) to find "FY 2024--25" To replace FY with 'financial year at the end use this replace function: \1\2\3 financial year

[Dapscoptyltd]

To find "FY--YYYY" use: FY^=([0-9]{1,2})([0-9]{2}) Replace with "YYYY financial year" with: \1\2 financial year