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# Using Wildcards in Text Searches

Wildcards or placeholders can be used to search for some unspecified or even invisible characters.

You can use wildcards when you find and replace text in a document. For example, "s.n" finds "sun" and "son".

1. Choose Edit - Find & Replace.

2. Click More Options to expand the dialog.

3. Select the Regular expressions check box.

4. In the Find box, type the search term and the wildcard(s) that you want to use in your search.

5. Click Find Next or Find All.

## Regular Expression Examples

1. The wildcard for a single character is a period (.).

2. The wildcard for zero or more occurrences of the previous character is an asterisk. For example: "123*" finds "12" "123", and "1233".

3. The wildcard combination to search for zero or more occurrences of any character is a period and asterisk (.*).

4. 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 (^.).

5. The wildcard for a tab character is \t.

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.

Related Topics

List of Wildcards