WD: How to Search for Special Characters When Pattern Matching

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
• Microsoft Word for Windows NT, version 6.0

SUMMARY

If you select Pattern Matching in the Find or Replace dialog box, the following special characters cannot be used in the Find What text box:

   Character     Meaning
   ---------     -------

   ^p            Paragraph mark
   ^e            Auto-numbered endnote reference mark
   ^d            Field
   ^f            Auto-numbered footnote reference mark
   ^b            Section break
   ^w            White space (one or more spaces)

WORKAROUND

To find the characters listed above when you have Use Pattern Matching selected, use the following substitutes in the Find What box:

   Standard      Substitute        Meaning
   --------      ----------        -------

   ^p            ^13               Paragraph mark (see Note 1)

   ^e            ^2                Auto-numbered endnote reference mark
                                   (see Note 2)

   ^d            (see Note 3)      Field

   ^f            ^2                Auto-numbered footnote reference mark

   ^b            ^12               Section break or page break (see Note 4)

   ^w            <space>{1,}       White space (see Note 5)

Notes

1. Works in Word for Windows only. There is no equivalent substitute in Word for the Macintosh.

2. When using these substitutes, it is not possible to differentiate between endnote and footnote reference marks.

3. There is no equivalent substitute for ^d (Field).

4. When using ^12 to search for section breaks, page breaks will also be found by this pattern. Thus, ^12 is a limited substitute for ^b.

5. For the substitute of ^w (white space), "<space>" means that a space character should precede the "{1,}". Do not type out "<space>" in the Find What text box.

MORE INFORMATION

For information about this issue in later versions of Word, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q176776
   TITLE     : WD: Searching for Special Characters When Use Wildcards
               Selected