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Article ID: 176776 - Last Review: January 22, 2007 - Revision: 2.1

WD: How to Search for Special Characters When Using Wildcards

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SUMMARY

If you select Use Wildcards in the Find or Replace dialog box, the following special characters cannot be used in the Find What text box: 
   Character     Meaning
   ---------------------
   ^e            Auto-numbered endnote reference mark
   ^d            Field
   ^f            Auto-numbered footnote reference mark
   ^b            Section break
   ^w            White space (one or more spaces)
   ^p            Paragraph mark
When Use Wildcards is selected, Word uses an entirely different search engine. This alternative search engine is not designed to search for the special characters listed above.

To find the characters listed above when you have Use Wildcards selected, use the following substitutes in the Find What box: 
   Standard      Substitute        Meaning
   --------      ----------        -------
   ^e            ^2                Auto-numbered endnote reference mark
                                   (see Note 1)

   ^d            (see Note 2)      Field

   ^f            ^2                Auto-numbered footnote reference mark

   ^b            ^12               Section break or page break (see Note 3)

   ^w            <space>{1,}       White space (see Note 4)

   ^p            ^13               Paragraph mark (see Note 5)
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Notes

  1. When using these substitutes, it is not possible to differentiate between endnote and footnote reference marks.
  2. There is no equivalent substitute for ^d (Field).
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Works in Word for Windows only. There is no equivalent substitute in Word for the Macintosh.
  6. The substitutes should be used in the find box only DO NOT use them in the replace box.
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MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about this situation in earlier versions of Word, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
122758  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/122758/EN-US/ ) WD: How to Search for Special Characters When Pattern Matching
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh
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Keywords: 
kbhowto kbprb KB176776
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Retired KB ArticleRetired KB Content Disclaimer
This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
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