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23
24<helpdocument version="1.0">
25<meta>
26<topic id="textshared0102100001xml" indexer="include" status="PUBLISH">
27<title xml-lang="en-US" id="tit">List of Regular Expressions</title>
28<filename>/text/shared/01/02100001.xhp</filename>
29</topic>
30</meta>
31<body>
32<bookmark xml-lang="en-US" branch="index" id="bm_id3146765">
33<bookmark_value>regular expressions; list of</bookmark_value>
34<bookmark_value>lists;regular expressions</bookmark_value>
35<bookmark_value>replacing;tab stops (regular expressions)</bookmark_value>
36<bookmark_value>tab stops;regular expressions</bookmark_value>
37<bookmark_value>concatenation, see ampersand symbol</bookmark_value>
38<bookmark_value>ampersand symbol, see also operators</bookmark_value>
39</bookmark><comment>mw added "replacing;" and "tab stops;"</comment>
40<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="hd_id3146765" role="heading" level="1" l10n="U"
41oldref="203"><variable id="02100001"><link href="text/shared/01/02100001.xhp">List of Regular Expressions</link>
42</variable></paragraph>
43<table id="tbl_id3149517">
44<tablerow>
45<tablecell>
46<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149741" role="tablehead" l10n="U" oldref="17">Character</paragraph>
47</tablecell>
48<tablecell>
49<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155577" role="tablehead" l10n="U" oldref="18">Result/Use</paragraph>
50</tablecell>
51</tablerow>
52<tablerow>
53<tablecell>
54<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id6600543" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">Any character</paragraph>
55</tablecell>
56<tablecell>
57<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id9824518.00000001" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG">Represents the given character unless otherwise specified.</paragraph>
58</tablecell>
59</tablerow>
60<tablerow>
61<tablecell>
62<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3152427" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="19">.</paragraph>
63</tablecell>
64<tablecell>
65<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149031" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="20">Represents any single character except for a line break or paragraph break. For example, the search term "sh.rt" returns both "shirt" and "short".</paragraph>
66</tablecell>
67</tablerow>
68<tablerow>
69<tablecell>
70<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3154682" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="21">^</paragraph>
71</tablecell>
72<tablecell>
73<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155351" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="22">Only finds the search term if the term is at the beginning of a paragraph. Special objects such as empty fields or character-anchored frames, at the beginning of a paragraph are ignored. Example: "^Peter".</paragraph>
74</tablecell>
75</tablerow>
76<tablerow>
77<tablecell>
78<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3159194" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="23">$</paragraph>
79</tablecell>
80<tablecell>
81<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3152542" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="24">Only finds the search term if the term appears at the end of a paragraph. Special objects such as empty fields or character-anchored frames at the end of a paragraph are ignored. Example: "Peter$".</paragraph>
82</tablecell>
83</tablerow>
84<tablerow>
85<tablecell>
86<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3156414" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="25">*</paragraph>
87</tablecell>
88<tablecell>
89<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155555" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="26">Finds zero or more of the characters in front of the "*". For example, "Ab*c" finds "Ac", "Abc", "Abbc", "Abbbc", and so on.</paragraph>
90</tablecell>
91</tablerow>
92<tablerow>
93<tablecell>
94<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3147399" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="27">+</paragraph>
95</tablecell>
96<tablecell>
97<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3157958" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="28">Finds one or more of the characters in front of the "+". For example, "AX.+4" finds "AXx4", but not "AX4".</paragraph>
98<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3145313" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="207">The longest possible string that matches this search pattern in a paragraph is always found. If the paragraph contains the string "AX 4 AX4", the entire passage is highlighted.</paragraph>
99</tablecell>
100</tablerow>
101<tablerow>
102<tablecell>
103<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3143267" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="199">?</paragraph>
104</tablecell>
105<tablecell>
106<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153684" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="200">Finds zero or one of the characters in front of the "?". For example, "Texts?" finds "Text" and "Texts" and "x(ab|c)?y" finds "xy", "xaby", or "xcy".</paragraph>
107</tablecell>
108</tablerow>
109<tablerow>
110<tablecell>
111<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3166410" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="158">\</paragraph>
112</tablecell>
113<tablecell>
114<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3147209" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="159">Search interprets the special character that follows the "\" as a normal character and not as a regular expression (except for the combinations \n, \t, \&gt;, and \&lt;). For example, "tree\." finds "tree.", not "treed" or "trees".</paragraph>
115</tablecell>
116</tablerow>
117<tablerow>
118<tablecell>
119<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3152945" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="166">\n</paragraph>
120</tablecell>
121<tablecell>
122<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153700" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="167">Represents a line break that was inserted with the Shift+Enter key combination. To change a line break into a paragraph break, enter <emph>\n</emph> in the <emph>Search for</emph> and <emph>Replace with</emph> boxes, and then perform a search and replace.</paragraph>
123<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id9262672" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">\n in the <emph>Search for</emph> text box stands for a line break that was inserted with the Shift+Enter key combination.</paragraph>
124<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id2366100" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">\n in the <emph>Replace with</emph> text box stands for a paragraph break that can be entered with the Enter or Return key.</paragraph>
125</tablecell>
126</tablerow>
127<tablerow>
128<tablecell>
129<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153258" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="29">\t</paragraph>
130</tablecell>
131<tablecell>
132<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3157809" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="30">Represents a tab. You can also use this expression in the <emph>Replace with</emph> box.</paragraph>
133</tablecell>
134</tablerow>
135<tablerow>
136<tablecell>
137<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150670" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="35">\b</paragraph>
138</tablecell>
139<tablecell>
140<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153666" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="36">Match a word boundary. For example, "\bbook" finds "bookmark" but not "checkbook" whereas "book\b" finds "checkbook" but not "bookmark". The discrete word "book" is found by both search terms.</paragraph>
141</tablecell>
142</tablerow>
143<tablerow>
144<tablecell>
145<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149576" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="37">^$</paragraph>
146</tablecell>
147<tablecell>
148<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3151245" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="38">Finds an empty paragraph.</paragraph>
149</tablecell>
150</tablerow>
151<tablerow>
152<tablecell>
153<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3148550" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="41">^.</paragraph>
154</tablecell>
155<tablecell>
156<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3159413" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="42">Finds the first character of a paragraph.</paragraph>
157</tablecell>
158</tablerow>
159<tablerow>
160<tablecell>
161<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3147282" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="43">&amp; or $0</paragraph>
162</tablecell>
163<tablecell>
164<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153961" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="44">Adds the string that was found by the search criteria in the <emph>Search for</emph> box to the term in the <emph>Replace with</emph> box when you make a replacement.</paragraph>
165<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149650" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="201">For example, if you enter "window" in the <emph>Search for</emph> box and "&amp;frame" in the <emph>Replace with</emph> box, the word "window" is replaced with "windowframe".</paragraph>
166<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150543" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="206">You can also enter an "&amp;" in the <emph>Replace with</emph> box to modify the <emph>Attributes</emph> or the <emph>Format</emph> of the string found by the search criteria.</paragraph>
167</tablecell>
168</tablerow>
169<tablerow>
170<tablecell>
171<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3145419" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="172">[abc123]</paragraph>
172</tablecell>
173<tablecell>
174<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3154630" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="173">Represents one of the characters that are between the brackets.</paragraph>
175</tablecell>
176</tablerow>
177<tablerow>
178<tablecell>
179<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3156293" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="174">[a-e]</paragraph>
180</tablecell>
181<tablecell>
182<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149167" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="175">Represents any of the characters that are between a and e, including both start and end characters</paragraph>
183<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id100520090232005" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">The characters are ordered by their code numbers.</paragraph>
184</tablecell>
185</tablerow>
186<tablerow>
187<tablecell>
188<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155994" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="176">[a-eh-x]</paragraph>
189</tablecell>
190<tablecell>
191<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3148676" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="177">Represents any of the characters that are between a-e and h-x.</paragraph>
192</tablecell>
193</tablerow>
194<tablerow>
195<tablecell>
196<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3145318" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="178">[^a-s]</paragraph>
197</tablecell>
198<tablecell>
199<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153351" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="179">Represents everything that is not between a and s.</paragraph>
200</tablecell>
201</tablerow>
202<tablerow>
203<tablecell>
204<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3156543" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="180">\xXXXX</paragraph>
205</tablecell>
206<tablecell>
207<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153768" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="181">Represents a special character based on its four-digit hexadecimal code (XXXX).</paragraph>
208<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3159252" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="208">The code for the special character depends on the font used. You can view the codes by choosing <emph>Insert - Special Character</emph>.</paragraph>
209</tablecell>
210</tablerow>
211<tablerow>
212<tablecell>
213<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153951" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="186">|</paragraph>
214</tablecell>
215<tablecell>
216<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3154985" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="187">Finds the terms that occur before the "|" and also finds the terms that occur after the "|". For example, "this|that" finds "this" and "that".</paragraph>
217</tablecell>
218</tablerow>
219<tablerow>
220<tablecell>
221<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3147376" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="209">{2}</paragraph>
222</tablecell>
223<tablecell>
224<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150103" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="210">Defines the number of times that the character in front of the opening bracket occurs. For example, "tre{2}" finds and selects "tree".</paragraph>
225</tablecell>
226</tablerow>
227<tablerow>
228<tablecell>
229<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3151289" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="211">{1,2}</paragraph>
230</tablecell>
231<tablecell>
232<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3147317" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="212">Defines the minimum and maximum number of times that the character in front of the opening bracket can occur. For example, "tre{1,2}" finds and selects "tre" and "tree".</paragraph>
233</tablecell>
234</tablerow>
235<tablerow>
236<tablecell>
237<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id4870754" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">{1,}</paragraph>
238</tablecell>
239<tablecell>
240<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id843836" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">Defines the minimum number of times that the character in front of the opening bracket can occur. For example, "tre{2,}" finds "tree", "treee", and "treeeee".</paragraph>
241</tablecell>
242</tablerow>
243<tablerow>
244<tablecell>
245<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3148616" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="213">( )</paragraph>
246</tablecell>
247<tablecell>
248<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id2701803" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">In the <emph>Search for</emph> box:</paragraph>
249<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153573" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="214">Defines the characters inside the parentheses as a reference. You can then refer to the first reference in the current expression with "\1", to the second reference with "\2", and so on.</paragraph>
250<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3156061" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="215">For example, if your text contains the number 13487889 and you search using the regular expression (8)7\1\1, "8788" is found.</paragraph>
251<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id2367931" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">You can also use () to group terms, for example, "a(bc)?d" finds "ad" or "abcd".</paragraph>
252<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id9200109" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">In the <emph>Replace with</emph> box:<comment>i83322</comment></paragraph>
253<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id5766472" role="tablecontent" l10n="NEW">Use $ (dollar) instead of \ (backslash) to replace references. Use $0 to replace the whole found string.</paragraph>
254</tablecell>
255</tablerow>
256<tablerow>
257<tablecell>
258<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3154790" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="226">[:alpha:]</paragraph>
259</tablecell>
260<tablecell>
261<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3147397" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="227">Represents an alphabetic character. Use [:alpha:]+ to find one or more of them.</paragraph>
262</tablecell>
263</tablerow>
264<tablerow>
265<tablecell>
266<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3152885" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="216">[:digit:]</paragraph>
267</tablecell>
268<tablecell>
269<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150010" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="217">Represents a decimal digit. Use [:digit:]+ to find one or more of them.</paragraph>
270</tablecell>
271</tablerow>
272<tablerow>
273<tablecell>
274<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153743" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="224">[:alnum:]</paragraph>
275</tablecell>
276<tablecell>
277<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153281" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="225">Represents an alphanumeric character ([:alpha:] and [:digit:]).</paragraph>
278</tablecell>
279</tablerow>
280<tablerow>
281<tablecell>
282<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3153726" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="218">[:space:]</paragraph>
283</tablecell>
284<tablecell>
285<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150961" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="219">Represents a whitespace character.</paragraph>
286</tablecell>
287</tablerow>
288<tablerow>
289<tablecell>
290<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150486" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="220">[:print:]</paragraph>
291</tablecell>
292<tablecell>
293<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150872" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="221">Represents a printable character.</paragraph>
294</tablecell>
295</tablerow>
296<tablerow>
297<tablecell>
298<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3155854" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="222">[:cntrl:]</paragraph>
299</tablecell>
300<tablecell>
301<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3152576" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="223">Represents a nonprinting character.</paragraph>
302</tablecell>
303</tablerow>
304<tablerow>
305<tablecell>
306<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3149958" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="228">[:lower:]</paragraph>
307</tablecell>
308<tablecell>
309<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3145730" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="229">Represents a lowercase character if <emph>Match case</emph> is selected in <emph>Options</emph>.</paragraph>
310</tablecell>
311</tablerow>
312<tablerow>
313<tablecell>
314<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3148455" role="tablecontent" l10n="U" oldref="230">[:upper:]</paragraph>
315</tablecell>
316<tablecell>
317<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id3150092" role="tablecontent" l10n="CHG" oldref="231">Represents an uppercase character if <emph>Match case</emph> is selected in <emph>Options.</emph>
318</paragraph>
319</tablecell>
320</tablerow>
321</table>
322<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="hd_id5311441" role="heading" level="2" l10n="NEW">Examples</paragraph>
323<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id956834773" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">e([:digit:])?    -- finds 'e' followed by zero or one digit. Note that currently all named character classes like [:digit:] must be enclosed in parentheses.<comment>issue 64368 and 113035</comment></paragraph>
324<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id952368773" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">^([:digit:])$    -- finds lines or cells with exactly one digit.</paragraph>
325<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id9568773" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">You can combine the search terms to form complex searches.</paragraph>
326<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="hd_id71413" role="heading" level="3" l10n="NEW">To find three-digit numbers alone in a paragraph</paragraph>
327<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id2924283" role="code" l10n="NEW">^[:digit:]{3}$</paragraph>
328<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id5781731" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">^ means the match has to be at the start of a paragraph,</paragraph>
329<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id6942045" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">[:digit:] matches any decimal digit,</paragraph>
330<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id4721823" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">{3} means there must be exactly 3 copies of "digit",</paragraph>
331<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id5806756" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW">$ means the match must end a paragraph.</paragraph>
332<section id="relatedtopics">
333<embed href="text/shared/01/02100000.xhp#02100000"/>
334<switch select="appl">
335<case select="WRITER"><embed href="text/swriter/guide/search_regexp.xhp#search_regexp"/>
336<embed href="text/swriter/guide/finding.xhp#finding"/>
337</case>
338</switch>
339<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id1751457" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW"><link href="https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Regular_Expressions_in_Writer">Wiki page about regular expressions in Writer</link></paragraph>
340<paragraph xml-lang="en-US" id="par_id5483870" role="paragraph" l10n="NEW"><link href="https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Regular_Expressions_in_Calc">Wiki page about regular expressions in Calc</link></paragraph>
341</section>
342</body>
343</helpdocument>
344