Word VBA wildcard search

MikeForward · #1 02-20-2019, 04:36 AM

Hi there,

I am finding odd results with the following wildcard search in Word 2010 VBA. I am trying to search for special codewords embedded in a Word doc which look like "ZXZABCDEF...". where X is a single character which can be 0-9,A-Z, as are the ABCDEF.... The first and third characters are always Z. The ABCDEF...is a minimum of 3 characters and a maximum of 16 characters.

The following search works correctly in either backwards or forwards direction:
[/code] Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = "<Z[0-9A-Z]Z[0-9A-Z]{3}"
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = bForwards '***where bForwards is a Boolean = true or false
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
b = Selection.Find.Execute[/code]

However, if I change the {3} in the .Text= line to {3,16} the search then works forwards, but fails backwards! Any ideas? Macropod - this is a simplified form of my first question, and does seem to give genuinely odd results. I promise no more questions for a while after this!

Thanks a lot

Mike

kilroy · #2 02-20-2019, 02:57 PM

I don't think you can use{3} for your needs. I can't answer your exact question but I use this macro for finding strings that aren't always know.

Code:

Sub WhereIsIt()
    a1 = "[0-9A-z] "
    B2 = "Z[0-9A-z]Z"
    
    ActiveDocument.Range(0).Select
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    While Selection.Find.Execute(a1)
        StartReformat = Selection.Start
        Selection.MoveRight
        Selection.Find.Execute (B2)
        StopReformat = Selection.End
        Selection.MoveRight
        Selection.Select
        Selection.Font.Color = 255
        Selection.Font.Bold = True
        Selection.Font.Size = 20
    Wend
   
End Sub

macropod · #3 02-20-2019, 06:36 PM

You could use something like:

Code:

Sub Demo()
Dim b As Boolean, Rng As Range
Const bForwards As Boolean = False
Set Rng = Selection.Range: b = False
With Selection
  With .Find
    .ClearFormatting
    .Text = "<Z[0-9A-Z]Z[0-9A-Z]@>"
    .Replacement.Text = ""
    .Forward = bForwards
    .Wrap = wdFindStop
    .Format = False
    .MatchWildcards = True
    .Execute
  End With
  Do While .Find.Found
    If .InRange(Rng) = False Then Exit Do
    If Len(.Text) < 17 Then b = True
    If b = True Then Exit Do
    .Collapse bForwards + 1
    .Find.Execute
  Loop
End With
MsgBox b
End Sub

MikeForward · #4 02-21-2019, 06:18 AM

Thanks a lot, that's sorted it.

Mike

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