<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<helpdocument version="1.0">
	
<!--
***********************************************************************
 *
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 * 
 * Copyright 2008 by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 *
 * OpenOffice.org - a multi-platform office productivity suite
 *
 * This file is part of OpenOffice.org.
 *
 * OpenOffice.org is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3
 * only, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 * OpenOffice.org is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 for more details
 * (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 * version 3 along with OpenOffice.org.  If not, see
 * <http://www.openoffice.org/license.html>
 * for a copy of the LGPLv3 License.
 *
 ************************************************************************
 -->
 
	
<meta>
      <topic id="textswriterguidesearch_regexpxml" indexer="include" status="PUBLISH">
         <title xml-lang="en-US" id="tit">Using Wildcards in Text Searches</title>
         <filename>/text/swriter/guide/search_regexp.xhp</filename>
      </topic>
   </meta>
   <body>
<bookmark xml-lang="en-US" branch="index" id="bm_id3150099"><bookmark_value>wildcards, see regular expressions</bookmark_value>
      <bookmark_value>searching; with wildcards</bookmark_value>
      <bookmark_value>regular expressions;searching</bookmark_value>
      <bookmark_value>examples for regular expressions</bookmark_value>
      <bookmark_value>characters;finding all</bookmark_value>
      <bookmark_value>invisible characters;finding</bookmark_value>
      <bookmark_value>paragraph marks;searching</bookmark_value>
</bookmark><comment>mw deleted "wildcards;" and inserted wildcards crossreference</comment><comment>mw added "paragraph marks;"</comment>
<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="hd_id3150099" role="heading" level="1" l10n="U"
                 oldref="15"><variable id="search_regexp"><link href="text/swriter/guide/search_regexp.xhp">Using Wildcards in Text Searches</link>
</variable></paragraph>
      <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id0509200916345516" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">Wildcards or placeholders can be used to search for some unspecified or even invisible characters.</paragraph>
      <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155182" role="paragraph" oldref="50">You can use wildcards when you find and replace text in a document. For example, "s.n" finds "sun" and "son".</paragraph>
      <list type="ordered">
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155907" role="listitem" l10n="U" oldref="40">Choose <item type="menuitem">Edit - Find &amp; Replace</item>.</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id2142399" role="listitem" l10n="NEW">Click <item type="menuitem">More Options</item> to expand the dialog.</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155861" role="listitem" l10n="U" oldref="41">Select the <item type="menuitem">Regular expressions</item> check box.</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149843" role="listitem" l10n="U" oldref="42">In the <item type="menuitem">Search for</item> box, type the search term and the wildcard(s) that you want to use in your search.</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3156113" role="listitem" l10n="U" oldref="51">Click <item type="menuitem">Find</item> or <item type="menuitem">Find All</item>.</paragraph>
         </listitem>
      </list>
      <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="hd_id3153401" role="heading" level="2" l10n="U"
                 oldref="52">Regular Expression Examples</paragraph>
      <list type="ordered">
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149641" role="listitem" oldref="44">The wildcard for a single character is a period (.).</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153136" role="listitem" oldref="43">The wildcard for zero or more occurrences of the previous character is an asterisk. For example: "123*" finds "12" "123", and "1233".</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149609" role="listitem" oldref="45">The wildcard combination to search for zero or more occurrences of any character is a period and asterisk (.*).</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149854" role="listitem" l10n="CHG" oldref="46">The wildcard for the end of a paragraph is a dollar sign ($). The wildcard character combination for the start of a paragraph is a caret and a period (^.).</paragraph>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
            <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id0509200916345545" role="listitem" l10n="NEW">The wildcard for a tab character is \t.</paragraph>
         </listitem>
      </list>
      <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153414" role="note" l10n="CHG" oldref="49">A search using a regular expression will work only within one paragraph. To search using a regular expression in more than one paragraph, do a separate search in each paragraph.</paragraph>
      <section id="relatedtopics">
         <paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149875" role="paragraph" l10n="U" oldref="48"><link href="text/shared/01/02100001.xhp" name="List of Wildcards">List of Wildcards</link></paragraph>
      </section>
   </body>
</helpdocument>