WD: How to Search for Special Characters When Pattern Matching

ID: Q122758

The information in this article applies to:

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)

When Use Pattern Matching is selected, Word uses an entirely different search engine. This alternative search engine is not designed to search for the special characters listed above.

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

Additional query words: ascii extended key caps

Keywords          : kbualink97 wordnt word8 winword ntword macword word6 word7 word95 
Version           : WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a;MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: September 19, 1998