Editorium Update

Searching with Character Codes

November 7, 2000 – 12:00 pm

In our last newsletter, I explained how to find Microsoft Word footnote numbers using the character code ^02. You can read the newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1703696660

There are other character codes you can use to find certain items:

* For a carriage return, you can use ^013.

* For a section break, you can use ^012.

* For a word space, you can use ^032.

Of course, you can also use Word’s built-in codes, which you can insert into the Find dialog’s “Find what” box by clicking the “Special” button:

* For a carriage return, you can use ^p.

* For a section break, you can use ^b.

* For a word space, you can use ^w for a word space (actually, any white space).

So why would you want to use the first codes?

Because if you’re finding something by using wildcards, the second ones won’t work. For example, let’s say that (for some reason) you’re searching for “wh” followed by any other character (the wildcard for which is “?”), followed by a carriage return. In the Find dialog’s “Find what” box, you enter this:

wh?^p

And to make Word search for the wildcard rather than an actual question mark, you put a check in the box labeled “Use wildcards.”

Finally, you click the Find button. What happens? You get an error message:

“^p is not a valid special character for the Find What box or is not supported when the Use Wildcards check box is selected.”

“Well then, how,” you politely ask your computer, “am I supposed to find what I’m looking for?”

As usual, it doesn’t reply, but here’s the answer anyway. In the “Find what” box, you enter this:

wh?^013

And that will do the job.

Ordinarily, you should probably use Word’s built-in codes, such as ^p and ^b. But when those don’t work, now you’ve got an alternative.

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