Using wildcards to highlight certain text

[Paul Cardin]

Hi,



I would like to highlight special instances of text in a Word document by using wildcards. I've searched widely, but my particular circumstances don't appear to be catered for.

I'd like to transform ALL instances of [word [timestamp]] in a document, e.g. [inaudible [12:34]] so that the square brackets and all the contents are highlighted in yellow in one press, after set-up.

I've tried the dialog box for find and replace / wildcards, etc. but cannot find a way through to achieving this with what would ultimately be one button press !

I thought I had it at one point when I set it up, pressed enter, and all my examples were highlighted in yellow...

...BUT the original text was lost, and replaced with hundreds of[*]s. Hope someone can help because the time saved compared to doing this manually would be enormous,

Many thanks, Paul

[Guessed]

Try searching for this
\[inaudible \[[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}\]\]

Don't put anything in the replace with field but turn on the highlight setting (and make sure the last used highlight was the colour you want)

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by Guessed

Try searching for this
\[inaudible \[[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}\]\]

Don't put anything in the replace with field but turn on the highlight setting (and make sure the last used highlight was the colour you want)

Thanks, but when I press 'Replace All' it's returning... 'All done. We made 0 replacements'.

If I press 'Find Next', it returns... '0 results found'.

[macropod]

Did you check the 'use wildcards' option?

For an ordinary Find/Replace, you might use:
Find = [inaudible [^#^#:^#^#]]
Replace = ^&

[Lugh]

Originally Posted by Guessed

Try searching for this
\[inaudible \[[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}\]\]

Originally Posted by Paul Cardin

when I press 'Replace All' it's returning... 'All done. We made 0 replacements'.

Is there actually some text in your document which is "inaudible " and a time stamp. Just in case you were only giving a random example which doesn't actually exist.

[macropod]

And, since it might be any word, not just 'inaudible', you might use a wildcard Find/Replace like:
Find =\[<*> \[[0-9]@:[0-9]@\]\]
Replace = ^&

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by macropod

Did you check the 'use wildcards' option?

For an ordinary Find/Replace, you might use:
Find = [inaudible [^#^#:^#^#]]
Replace = ^&

Many thanks.

With the Wildcards Option checked, on pressing Replace All, I get: "^# is not a valid special character for the Find What box or is not supported when the Use Wildcards check box is selected".

When I uncheck the Use Wildcards check box and press Replace All, I get: "All done. We made 0 replacements".

If I press Find Next in either case, I get: No results found.

I haven't tried your second suggestion yet
Paul

[macropod]

Originally Posted by Paul Cardin

With the Wildcards Option checked, on pressing Replace All, I get: "^# is not a valid special character for the Find What box or is not supported when the Use Wildcards check box is selected".

Well, I did describe
Find = [inaudible [^#^#:^#^#]]
as an ordinary Find/Replace...

Originally Posted by Paul Cardin

When I uncheck the Use Wildcards check box and press Replace All, I get: "All done. We made 0 replacements".

In that case, the content isn't as you described...

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by macropod

And, since it might be any word, not just 'inaudible', you might use a wildcard Find/Replace like:
Find =\[<*> \[[0-9]@:[0-9]@\]\]
Replace = ^&

Similar to the last one, with Wildcards check box checked / not checked, pressing Replace All gets: "All done. We made no replacements".

Find Next gets: "No results found".

But characters

Did I stumble across a problem that has no solution?!

thanks,
Paul

[macropod]

I repeat:
In that case, the content isn't as you described...

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by macropod

Well, I did describe
Find = [inaudible [^#^#:^#^#]]
as an ordinary Find/Replace...

In that case, the content isn't as you described...

Here's a direct example of the content:

[inaudible 12:34]

Thanks,
Paul

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by Lugh

Is there actually some text in your document which is "inaudible " and a time stamp. Just in case you were only giving a random example which doesn't actually exist.

100s of varying timestamps, but it's:

[inaudible 23:45]

thanks,
Paul

[macropod]

That is NOT what you described in post #1, which was:

instances of [word [timestamp]] in a document, e.g. [inaudible [12:34]]

Your [inaudible 23:45] lacks the square brackets around the time!

Try a wildcard Find/Replace like:
Find =\[<*> [0-9]@:[0-9]@\]
Replace = ^&

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by macropod

That is NOT what you described in post #1, which was:

Your [inaudible 23:45] lacks the square brackets around the time!

Try a wildcard Find/Replace like:
Find =\[<*> [0-9]@:[0-9]@\]
Replace = ^&

Thanks Paul...

...we're getting closer...

I use this, checked the wildcards check box, pressed Replace All and it responded: "All done. We made 54 replacements".

However there are only 32 instances of [inaudible 12:34] (with varying time stamps) in the document, and none of them had been highlighted in the chosen colour (yellow).

When I did the same with the wildcards check box unchecked it responded: "All done. We made 33 replacements".

In this document, which is one of many transcriptions I do, I have variables such as [voices overlap 12:34] and [wordguess 12:34] where I make a guess at an uncertain word. You posted something earlier aimed at dealing with this situation where the text varies, and something to address all of these including "inaudibles" would be the ideal.

Apologies to all for leading you up the garden path with incorrect information initially!

Paul

[Paul Cardin]

Originally Posted by macropod

That is NOT what you described in post #1, which was:

Your [inaudible 23:45] lacks the square brackets around the time!

Try a wildcard Find/Replace like:
Find =\[<*> [0-9]@:[0-9]@\]
Replace = ^&

Just discovered, when I press Find Next, it highlights in grey perfectly the limits of each example including all varied texts, as follows:

[inaudible 04:22]

[in England 05:34]

[inaudible 06:07]

[voices overlap 07:21]

...and so on.