Finding and Replacing Characters

To find characters:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu to bring up the Find dialog box.

  2. Enter the characters to find.

  3. To find the characters in a text region, make sure "Find in text regions" is selected. To search through math regions, select "Find in math regions." To find characters in collapsed areas, select "Find in collapsed areas." You may search through all of these types of regions and areas simultaneously.

  4. Click "Find Next" to continue.

To find and replace characters:

  1. Choose Replace from the Edit menu to bring up the Replace dialog box.

  2. Enter the characters you want to find next to "Find what."

  3. Enter the replacement characters next to "Replace with."

  4. You may then:

Characters You Can Find and Replace

You can use the Find dialog box to locate a variety of numbers, letters, and other characters in a worksheet. Numbers and letters can be found in both text and math regions. However, some characters can only be found in certain types of regions, such as strings. Use the table below to see which characters you can search for in specific regions.

Supported Characters

How to type in the dialog box

Regions searched

Letters and numbers

Type letters and numbers

All

Greek letters

Type the Roman character followed by [Ctrl] G

All

Period

Type [.]

All (In Math, finds the literal subscript operator)

Parentheses

Type [(] or [)]

Text and strings

Comma

Type [,]

Text and strings

Space

Press the [Spacebar]

Text and strings

Plus and minus

Type [+] or [−]

Text and strings

Tab

Type [^]t

Text

Return

Type [^]p

Text

Caret

Type [^]

Text and strings

Line break

Type [^]l

Text

Backslash

Type [\]

Text