Microsoft Word find+replace - How to do this?
July 20, 2015 8:47 AM Subscribe
I have to "clean" a Word file by getting rid of all names before a tab mark.
All the proper names between that square dot (a type of paragraph mark) and a tab mark have to disappear. Here's an image. So, MONROE, RENARD, NICK, JULIETTE and so on have to go.
How do I do that?
Thanks!
All the proper names between that square dot (a type of paragraph mark) and a tab mark have to disappear. Here's an image. So, MONROE, RENARD, NICK, JULIETTE and so on have to go.
How do I do that?
Thanks!
I am not sure what that square dot is, but most of Word's special characters can be found using a control code in the search string. So to find anything between square dot and tab, you can use Advanced Find with this pattern (control code for square dot)*^t - the * will find anything, and the ^t will find tab characters. If you want to auto replace you can just omit the * in the replace string, but you might want to do a line by line accept for replace instances if you're worried about it going overboard. Save the document as a backup before you start anything!
posted by crocomancer at 8:56 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by crocomancer at 8:56 AM on July 20, 2015
When I had to do this previously to remove punctuation marks in Word, what I would to is highlight and copy (CTRL-C) one of the paragraph marks within the document.
Next, I'd hit "Find and Replace", then under Find, I'd paste (CTRL-V) the copied tab mark. Leave the "replace with" field blank, and hit replace all. You should see all the paragraph tab marks gone.
This should work in Word 2010, at least.
posted by PearlRose at 8:57 AM on July 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Next, I'd hit "Find and Replace", then under Find, I'd paste (CTRL-V) the copied tab mark. Leave the "replace with" field blank, and hit replace all. You should see all the paragraph tab marks gone.
This should work in Word 2010, at least.
posted by PearlRose at 8:57 AM on July 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I can't find the "control code" for that mark. Plus, it's not highlightable.
Also, there are many names in that file, and many files, and I'd like to find a solution do do all at once (yeah, a wildcard would do).
If anyone wanna try something, I can send you a portion of the file, memail me.
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:04 AM on July 20, 2015
Also, there are many names in that file, and many files, and I'd like to find a solution do do all at once (yeah, a wildcard would do).
If anyone wanna try something, I can send you a portion of the file, memail me.
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:04 AM on July 20, 2015
Hmm. Copypaste into Excel using the tab as delimiter, then delete the appropriate column(s)?
posted by notyou at 9:12 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by notyou at 9:12 AM on July 20, 2015
Seconding jactus. This is what regular expressions are for. Do you have a programmer friend? Ask them to help you and they'll have it done in 5 min or less.
posted by rachelpapers at 9:13 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by rachelpapers at 9:13 AM on July 20, 2015
Response by poster: I don't have a programmer friend that I can ask. But now I have a better vocabulary to ask this question! What is the regular expression that I have to use to reach my goal?
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:22 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:22 AM on July 20, 2015
Response by poster: Here's an example file if anyone feels like taking a crack at it: http://wikisend.com/download/133706/example.doc
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:43 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:43 AM on July 20, 2015
Best answer: You do not need a programmer friend.
Alt, E, E
In the dialog box:
Find what:
Replace with:
[x] Use wildcards
posted by Herodios at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
Alt, E, E
In the dialog box:
Find what:
([A-z]@)^tReplace with:
^t[x] Use wildcards
posted by Herodios at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you, Herodios! Made my day!
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:54 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:54 AM on July 20, 2015
Just in case anyone is actually curious about it, the square dot in that position indicates direct formatting on a paragraph, generally (I think always but I'm hedging my bets here) "Keep with next" and/or "Keep lines together".
posted by janey47 at 9:58 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by janey47 at 9:58 AM on July 20, 2015
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posted by jcatus at 8:54 AM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]