Wildcards for items you want to find and

replace
You can use wildcards to search for text. For example, you can use the asterisk (*) wildcard to search for
a string of characters (for example, "s*d" finds "sad" and "started").

Use wildcards to find and replace text

1. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the arrow next to Find, and then click Advanced Find.

2. Select the Use wildcards check box.

If you don't see the Use wildcards check box, click More.

3. Do one of the following:

o To choose a wildcard character from a list, click Special, click a wildcard character, and then type any
additional text in the Find what box. For more information, see the table Available wildcards.
o Type a wildcard character directly in the Find what box. For more information, see the table Available
wildcards.
4. If you want to replace the item, click the Replace tab, and then type what you want to use as a
replacement in the Replace with box.
5. Click Find Next, Find All, Replace, or Replace All.

To cancel a search in progress, press ESC.

Available wildcards

NOTE:

 When the Use wildcards check box is selected, Word finds only the exact text that you specify. Notice that
the Match case and Find whole words only check boxes are unavailable (dimmed) to indicate that these
options are automatically turned on. You can't turn off these options.
 To search for a character that's defined as a wildcard, type a backslash (\) before the character. For
example, type \? to find a question mark.
 You can use parentheses to group the wildcard characters and text and to indicate the order of evaluation.
For example, type <(pre)*(ed)> to find "presorted" and "prevented".
 You can use the \n wildcard to search for an expression and then replace it with the rearranged expression.
For example, type (Ashton) (Chris) in the Find what box and \2 \1 in the Replace with box. Word will
find Ashton Chris and replace it with Chris Ashton.

To find Type Example

Any single character ? s?t finds sat and set.
Any string of characters * s*d finds sad and started.
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.
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. Ranges must be in
ascending order.
Any single character except the characters in the range [!x-z] t[!a-m]ck finds tock and tuck, but not tack or tick.
inside the brackets
Exactly n occurrences of the previous character or {n} fe{2}d finds feed but not fed.
expression
At least n occurrences of the previous character or {n,} fe{1,}d finds fed and feed.
expression
From n to m occurrences of the previous character or {n,m} 10{1,3} finds 10, 100, and 1000.
expression
One or more occurrences of the previous character or @ lo@t finds lot and loot.
expression

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Putting regular expressions to work

These examples show you some of the ways that you can use wildcard characters and regular expressions
in Microsoft Word

Example 1: Transpose names with middle initials

 This example uses a combination of wildcard characters and character codes to transpose names that
contain middle initials. If you're unfamiliar with character codes, see the Word Help topic Find and
replace text and other data in your Word 2010 files.

Keep these facts in mind as you proceed:

 Whenever you use this expression on names that reside in a table, you must first convert that table to text.
 If the table contains more than one column, copy the column containing the names to a blank document and
convert it to text there.
 After you transpose the names, convert the text back to a table. You can then delete the original column and
replace it with your changed data.

To prepare sample data

1. If you haven't already done so, start Word and create a new, blank document.
2. Insert a blank table into the document. Make the table one column wide by four rows high.
3. Copy these names individually, and paste each one into a blank table cell:

Joshua Quentin Barnhill

Doris X. Hartwig
Tamara Y. Johnston
Daniel Shimshoni

Your table should look something like this:

Joshua Quentin Barnhill

Doris X. Hartwig
Tamara Y. Johnston
Daniel Shimshoni

1. Select the table, and on the Table Tools Layout tab, in the Data group, click Convert to Text.
2. Select Paragraph marks as the text separator, and then click OK.

To transpose names with initials

1. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Replace to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
2. Select the Use wildcards check box (you may need to click More to see the check box), and then type the
following expression in the Find what box:

(*) ([! ]@)^13

 Make sure you enter a space between the two sets of parentheses and after the exclamation point. If you
haven't seen the ^13 character before, we explain what it does in the next section.

3. In the Replace with box, type the following expression:

\2, \1^p

4. Select the list of names, and then click Replace All. Word transposes the names and either middle initials
or middle names, like so:

Barnhill, Joshua Quentin

Hartwig, Doris X.
Johnston, Tamara Y.
Shimshoni, Daniel

To convert the changed text back to a table

1. Select the list of transposed names.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table, and then click Convert Text to Table.

The Convert Text to Table dialog box opens.

3. Under Separate text at, click Paragraphs, and then click OK.

The expressions, piece by piece

Let's look at the individual pieces of the expression to see how they work, starting with the expression in
the Find what box.

The entire expression looks for two groups of patterns: a first name with a middle initial (or a middle
name) and a last name. The (*) finds all first names. Notice that there's a space after it.

This part of the expression matches the last names:

([! ] @)^ 13

The exclamation point excludes any character specified in the brackets. In this case, [! ] means "find
everything but spaces." Its effect is to trim the space from in front of the last names.

The @ character finds one or more occurrences of the previous character, so all it's doing is making sure
that all spaces in front of the last name are removed.
 We need to know where the last name ends, so we also use the ^13 character to search for the paragraph
mark at the end of each line. However, since we don't plan to reuse the paragraph mark, we surround
everything else with parentheses.

You can try this by copying the names to your test document again (make sure you separate them with
paragraph marks), and then search using ([! ]@)^13 in the Find what box. Search matches each last
name.

Because search starts again at the beginning of the next line, we use the asterisk wildcard character (*) to
match everything from there to the beginning of the next last name.

Since we don't plan to reuse the space in front of the last name, we use parentheses to exclude it from the
two groups:

(*) ([! ] @)^ 13

IMPORTANT: Be careful when using the ^13 character code. Normally, you can use the ^p character
code to search for paragraph marks. However, that code does not work in wildcard searches. Instead, you
need to use the substitute code ^13. Although the ^p character code does not work in wildcard searches,
you should use it in wildcard replace operations. Why? The ^p character includes formatting information,
and the ^13 character does not. In addition, you cannot assign style information to the ^13 character at all.
Misusing the ^13 code in a replace operation can essentially convert your document into a file that you
cannot format.

The "replace" expression (\2 \1) does the actual transposition. In the Replace with box, the \2, characters
tell search to write the second pattern first and to add a comma after the pattern. The \1^p characters tell
search where to write the first pattern and to write a paragraph mark after that pattern.

Example 2: Transposing dates

You can use the regular expressions shown here to convert dates in European format to dates in the U.S.
format.

To transpose dates

1. Copy and paste the following date into your document: 28th May 2003
2. Open the Find and Replace dialog box, and type the following expression in the Find what box:

([0-9]{1,2})([dhnrst]{2}) (<[ADFJMNOS]*>) ([0-9]{4})

Make sure you insert a space between the following opening and closing parentheses: 2}) (<[ and *>) ([0.

3. Enter the following expression in the Replace with box:

 \3 \1, \4

Make sure you insert a space between each set of characters.

4. Click Replace All.

Search replaces 28th May, 2003 with May 28, 2003.

The expressions, piece by piece

Let's start with the expression in the Find what box. The expression works by breaking dates down into
four patterns, denoted by the sets of parentheses. Each pattern contains the components that you find in all
dates written in the style that you used in the example. Working from left to right:

 The number range [0-9] matches the single-digit numbers in the first pattern. Because dates can consist of
two numbers, we tell search to return either one-digit or two-digit dates: {1,2}. The result is the first
pattern: ([0-9]{1,2}).

Ordinals make up the second pattern. Ordinals consist of "th," "nd," "st," and "rd," so we add those letters
to a range [dhnrst]. Because ordinals always consist of two letters, we restrict the letter count to
two: ([dhnrst]{2}).

 Next comes a space, followed by literal and wildcard characters that find month names. All month names
begin with these capital letters: ADFJMNOS. We don't know how many characters follow each capital
letter, so we follow them with the asterisk (*). We're only interested in the month name itself, so we use
greater-than and less-than characters to limit the results to the individual word. The result is the fourth
pattern:(<[ADFJMNOS]*>).
 Finally, we search for the year. We use the same number range, but this time we restrict the count to four
letters([0-9]{4}).

Notice that in the Replace with box we wrote only three of the four address patterns. We omitted the
ordinal (the "th") from the date because dates in the U.S. format don't use ordinals. If you want to leave
the ordinal in the date, enter \3 \1\2, \4 in the Replace with box. In this case, you enter a space both after
the 3 and after the comma, but nowhere else.

At this point, you may ask how to handle dates in which the name of the month isn't spelled out, such as
28/05/03. You search using this expression:

([0-9 ]{ 1,2}) /( [0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{2})

You replace using this expression:

\3/\1/\2
 If the date takes the format of 28/05/2003, you use {4} in the last pattern instead of {2}.

About using list separators in regular expressions

The previous example uses the following argument to find either one-digit or two-digit dates: {1,2}. In
this case, a comma separates the two values. However, remember that your regional settings in Windows
control the list separator that you use. If your regional settings specify the use of semicolons as list
separators, you must use them instead of commas.

To find out which list separator your operating system specifies, do the following:

Windows 7

1. Click the Start button , and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Clock, Language, and Region.
3. Click Change the date, time, or number format, and then click Additional settings.
4. Click the Numbers tab, and then locate the List separator entry.

Windows Vista

1. Click the Start button , and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Clock, Language, and Region.
3. Click Regional and Language Options.
4. On the Formats tab, under Current format, click Customize this format.
5. Click the Numbers tab, and then locate the List separator entry.

Windows XP

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Regional and Language Options.
3. On the Regional tab, click Customize.
4. Click the Numbers tab, and then locate the List separator entry.

Example 3: Add periods to, or remove them from, salutations

In some countries, honorific titles (Mr., Mrs., and so on) do not include periods. This example shows you
how to add periods to or remove them from honorifics. From this point on, we assume that you know how
to use the Find and Replace dialog box.

This expression finds Mr, Ms, Mrs, and Dr without periods:

<( [DM][ rs ]{1,2})( )

Notice that the expression uses a second pattern containing a blank space. That space normally would
follow the honorific if the period was not there. This expression adds the period:

\1.\2

To do the reverse, search using this expression:

<( [DM][ rs ]{1,2}).

And replace using this expression:

\1

Example 4: Find duplicate paragraphs or rows

When you use this expression, you may want to sort the list first to place duplicate rows next to each
other. Also, you need to remove all blank paragraph marks. In other words, if you use blank paragraphs to
separate blocks of text, like so:

Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶

¶
Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶
¶
Doris X. Hartwig¶

you need to remove those paragraphs, like so:

Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶

Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶
Doris X. Hartwig¶

You can use your favorite method to remove the blank paragraphs, but since we're talking about regular
expressions, here's one that finds two consecutive paragraph characters. Search using this expression
(the @character repeats the find-and-replace operation and removes all multiple empty lines):

(^13)\1@

You replace the results with this expression:

^p
Now let's look at ways to replace text. This expression finds any sequence of two consecutive identical
paragraphs:

(*^13)\1

This expression also matches longer repetitions of text that end in paragraphs. For example, run the
expression against the following list:

Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶

Doris X. Hartwig¶
Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶
Doris X. Hartwig¶
Tamara Y. Johnston¶

Search finds the first four lines and stops only when the overall pattern changes. In contrast, if you run the
expression against this list:

Joshua Quentin Barnhill¶

Joshua Quentin Barnhill
Doris X. Hartwig¶
Doris X. Hartwig¶

The expression finds only the first two paragraphs.

To search for a greater number of identical items, add more placeholders. For example, this expression
finds three consecutive identical paragraphs:

(*^13)\1\1

You can also use braces to do the same thing. The following examples find two and three identical
paragraphs, respectively:

(*^13){2 }
(*^13){3}

Or, you can find either two or three identical paragraphs:

(*^13){2 ,3 }

You can also find two or more identical paragraphs:

(*^13){2,}
You can replace any of those expressions with the following string:

\1

In addition, you can repeat the find-and-replace operation as needed to replace all the duplicate
paragraphs in your document, or you can add the @ wildcard character and have the expression repeat the
operation for you:

(*^13)\1@

You also use this method to replace duplicate rows in a table. To do so, first remove any merged cells,
and then sort the table to place duplicate cells adjacent to each other. Next, convert your table to text. (On
the Table menu, point to Convert, and then click Table to text; when prompted, use the tab delimiter.)
After you make your replacements, convert the text back to a table.