Find/Replace Problem

[Guest]

Word 2000 SP3

I would like to use “Find†to search for the text, any text, from the start
of the paragraph up to and including a character – such as a colon ). And
then be able to “Replace†the font properties of the text and characters
selected.
I have tried [A-Z, 0-9] combinations to no avail.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Dean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm useless with wildcards, but you can probably get the information you
need at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm or
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/UsingWildcards.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks Suzanne for your swift reply.
I have already been to these sites you mentioned and am still having troubles.
Maybe I am destined never to get the hang of wildcards!
For example, if the new paragraph starts:
The cat and the fiddle: the cow jumped over the moon.
I want Find to hit "The cat and the fiddle:" but am only hitting "e:" I
cannot get the wildcards to hit all the letters/characters from the start of
the paragragh upto the colon.

Thanks again
DeanH

I'm useless with wildcards, but you can probably get the information you
need at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm or
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/UsingWildcards.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Word 2000 SP3

I would like to use “Find†to search for the text, any text, from the start
of the paragraph up to and including a character – such as a colon ). And
then be able to “Replace†the font properties of the text and characters
selected.
I have tried [A-Z, 0-9] combinations to no avail.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Dean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If the words are always at the beginning of the paragraph, perhaps you could
include the paragraph mark from the previous paragraph (^13). Separate that
and the remaining "Find what" text into two pieces (by grouping them with
parentheses), then use \2 as the "Replace with" text, with Format: Bold (or
whatever formatting/style it is you want to apply).

You're still going to need help from someone who knows more about this than
I do: I tried using (^13)(* as the "Find what" text, and it works about
half the time; the rest of the time, for some reason it includes an entire
previous paragraph rather than just the preceding paragraph mark. The other
(much worse) problem is that (not surprisingly) it deletes the paragraph
mark (not included in the "Replace with" text). Hmm.

Okay, here's what (sort of) works:

Use ^13*: as the "Find what" text and ^& (Format: Bold or whatever) as the
"Replace with" text. Then step through the document, clicking Find Next
repeatedly and using Replace only where appropriate. If there is a phrase
ending with a colon at the beginning of *every* paragraph, however, then the
problem will not arise.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Many thanks Suzanne for your swift reply.
I have already been to these sites you mentioned and am still having troubles.
Maybe I am destined never to get the hang of wildcards!
For example, if the new paragraph starts:
The cat and the fiddle: the cow jumped over the moon.
I want Find to hit "The cat and the fiddle:" but am only hitting "e:" I
cannot get the wildcards to hit all the letters/characters from the start of
the paragragh upto the colon.

Thanks again
DeanH

I'm useless with wildcards, but you can probably get the information you
need at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm or
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/UsingWildcards.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Word 2000 SP3

I would like to use “Find†to search for the text, any text, from the start
of the paragraph up to and including a character – such as a colon

).
And

then be able to “Replace†the font properties of the text and characters
selected.
I have tried [A-Z, 0-9] combinations to no avail.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Dean

 

[Pop`]

Word 2000 SP3

I would like to use "Find" to search for the text, any text, from the
start of the paragraph up to and including a character - such as a
colon ). And then be able to "Replace" the font properties of the
text and characters selected.
I have tried [A-Z, 0-9] combinations to no avail.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Dean

I suspect the only way to accomplish that would be with a script; there is
too much of an if/then/else structure required to do that with Words
features, I believe.

Pop`

 

[Graham Mayor]

You cannot do what you are trying to do, unless you have a way of
identifying the particular paragraph. The wildcard '*' is too broad a brush
without some additional help and will find *all* the text from the first
paragraph mark after the cursor position (if that is what you are searching
for) to the colon. You have to tie the search string down to a unique
combination of digits and wildcard characters. Thus

The cat*: would find the line and T*: would find the line.
but ^13*: could find a variety of irrelevant stuff.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

Many thanks Suzanne for your swift reply.
I have already been to these sites you mentioned and am still having
troubles. Maybe I am destined never to get the hang of wildcards!
For example, if the new paragraph starts:
The cat and the fiddle: the cow jumped over the moon.
I want Find to hit "The cat and the fiddle:" but am only hitting "e:"
I cannot get the wildcards to hit all the letters/characters from the
start of the paragragh upto the colon.

Thanks again
DeanH

I'm useless with wildcards, but you can probably get the information
you need at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm or
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/UsingWildcards.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

Word 2000 SP3

I would like to use "Find" to search for the text, any text, from
the start of the paragraph up to and including a character - such
as a colon ). And then be able to "Replace" the font properties
of the text and characters selected.
I have tried [A-Z, 0-9] combinations to no avail.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Dean