Searching for either a character or no character "Larry" <larry328NOSPAM[ at ]att.net> 09.07.2006 01:21:45 Let's say I want to search for all instances of "its" and "it's" in a document. I could do that with two searches, one for "its" and one for "it's." But can I search for them with one search? For that I would need search parameters that would be either one character (the apostrophe) or no character. I don't see any way in Word to do that. It would need to be something like this: it['[no character]]s I use Word 97. Thanks. Larry

Re: Searching for either a character or no character "Graham Mayor" <gmayor[ at ]REMOVETHISmvps.org> 09.07.2006 04:48:03 Search for <[Ii]t['s]{1,2} or <it['s]{1,2} with the wildcard option set - http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm -- <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Larry wrote: [Quoted Text] > Let's say I want to search for all instances of "its" and "it's" in a > document. I could do that with two searches, one for "its" and one > for "it's." But can I search for them with one search? For that I > would need search parameters that would be either one character (the > apostrophe) or no character. I don't see any way in Word to do that. > > It would need to be something like this: > > it['[no character]]s > > I use Word 97. > > Thanks. > Larry

Re: Searching for either a character or no character "Larry" <larry328NOSPAM[ at ]att.net> 09.07.2006 16:22:24 Thank you. Clever. It would never have occurred to me to combine the [xy] syntax with the {1,2} syntax. I also want to find occurrences of the word that have smart apostophes, so I added the smart apostrophe and also added the end of word mark: <[Ii]t['’s]{1,2}> Now a single search stops at every possible form of its and it's: it's and it’s and It's and It’s and its and Its. Thanks again. Larry "Graham Mayor" <gmayor[ at ]REMOVETHISmvps.org> wrote in message news:%23219AYxoGHA.4660[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] > Search for > <[Ii]t['s]{1,2} > or > <it['s]{1,2} > with the wildcard option set - > http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm > > -- > <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> > Graham Mayor - Word MVP > > My web site www.gmayor.com > Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org > <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> > > Larry wrote: > > Let's say I want to search for all instances of "its" and "it's" in a > > document. I could do that with two searches, one for "its" and one > > for "it's." But can I search for them with one search? For that I > > would need search parameters that would be either one character (the > > apostrophe) or no character. I don't see any way in Word to do that. > > > > It would need to be something like this: > > > > it['[no character]]s > > > > I use Word 97. > > > > Thanks. > > Larry > >

Re: Searching for either a character or no character Bob S <notarealaddress[ at ]110.net> 26.07.2006 21:47:29 Nice trick! Before you turn it loose replacing things in your document, be aware that it will also hit "it'd" and "it'll" if they happen to be present. Bob S On Sun, 9 Jul 2006 07:48:03 +0300, Graham Mayor wrote: [Quoted Text] >Search for ><[Ii]t['s]{1,2} >or ><it['s]{1,2} >with the wildcard option set - >http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm