Searching for either a character or no character

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry
  • Start date Start date
L

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
 
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 said:
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
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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
 
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