FrameMaker Tips | Search Tips, Part 1: Wildcards

Posted on: July 20, 2020 / FrameMaker Tips /

FrameMaker Tips

Search Tips, Part 1: Wildcards

When you search for an item, you can customize the search by using wildcards.


Category: Using FrameMaker

Relevance: All Manuals


When Use Wildcards is selected in the Find/Change dialog box, you can use the following wildcards to find character patterns.

To find Use this Example
Zero or more characters, excluding spaces and punctuation Enter an asterisk (*). f*t finds words such as fit and feet.
Any single character, excluding spaces and punctuation Enter a question mark (?). f??t finds four-letter words that begin with f and end with t—for example, foot and feet.
One or more spaces and punctuation characters Enter a vertical bar (|). *any| finds words such as any. and many?. If Whole Word is turned off, it also finds Tiffany, but not anything.
Any one of several characters Type the characters within brackets ( [ and ] ). [rml]ate finds rate, mate, and late. If Whole Word is turned off, it also finds berate, isolate, and material.
Any one character not in a specified group of characters Precede the characters in brackets with a caret (^). [^rml]ate finds fate, gate, and date, but not rate, mate, or late.
The beginning of a line Enter a caret (^). ^f finds any word that starts with f at the beginning of a line. You cannot combine this wildcard with the Whole Word option.
The end of a line Enter a dollar sign ($). f$ finds any word that ends with f at the end of a line. You cannot combine this wildcard with the Whole Word option.


To find with Use Wildcards turned on… Type any number of characters
Spaces or punctuation | (bar)
Any one character ?
The beginning of a line ^
The end of a line $
Any one of the bracketed characters ab [ab]
Any character except ab [^ab]
Any character from a to f [a-f]
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