Searching for either a character or no character

[Larry]

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

 

[Graham Mayor]

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

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Larry]

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

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

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

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

 

[Bob S]

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