microsoft word - regular expression with brackets and formatting?

Question

Trying to use regular expression in ms word see https://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/ehchua/programming/howto/PowerUser_MSOffice.html

How do I find all text "{text}" in the word document? This regular expression works in a text/regex \{(.*?)\} but it doesn't work in word.
Also, is there a way to auto-format this with a style if found?

user_3832970 · Answer

In MS Word, the wildcards are somewhat limited in functionality and you cannot translate * quantifier exactly ({0,} does not work for some reason). So, what you can use is

(\{[!{}]@})

and replace with \1.

To apply some format or style, you need to select it in the left-hand bottom corner of the Search & Replace dialog window when your cursor is in the replacement text field.

Pattern details:

( - start of capturing group #1
- \{ - a literal { char
- [!{}]@ - one or more (@) chars other than { and } (matched with [!{}])
- } - a } char.
) - end of the group.

microsoft word - regular expression with brackets and formatting?

1 Answers