asked on

Find and repalce a specific word within parentheses

I need to replace a specific word within closed parentheses in MS word 2010 with another word. I can find any character within parentheses using wildcards in FR : \(*\)

Then, what I need to do is find exactly the word "and" and replace it with an ampersand character "&". Not the string "and" but the specific word "and", which is always preceded by and followed with one or more words (in other words, is always [single space]"and"[single space] (or more generally [whitespace]"and"[whitespace]).

Also, the expression \( and \) doesn't work since it find all instances of the pattern whether or not it is between closed parentheses, if that makes any sense. \(*[ and ]*\) selects the entire phrase, e.g., "(you and I)", not just the word "and".

Sorry, I don't know how "storage zone" was selected, I meant the question to only be in MS Word.

GrahamSkan

With 'Use wildcards' ticked, try

Find: (\(*)<and>(*\))

Replace: \1&\2

Scown

Use the space befor and after the word and as well as the replacement ampersand.

Find: and
Replace with: &

orerockon

ASKER

Graham: It works, but it doesn't find only " and " within closed parentheses: "( and )". For example, it also finds:

"(A) and (B) " so it is finding " and " between two sets of closed parentheses, not within one set.

GrahamSkan

Wildcard Finds cannot always be guaranteed not to find spurious examples. It is often a matter of tuning to the best fit.

I will do some more experiments.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

GrahamSkan

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial