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Using wildcards in a search
When you select Regular Expression in the Find dialog box, you activate wildcard searching. (Regular Expression is a proven technology used in many word-processing applications.) GoLive makes wildcard searching easier by allowing you to use editable wildcard patterns in the search history pop-up menu. For more information, see Setting Find preferences.
Use these guidelines when wildcard searching:
Characters that are used to specify wildcard options, such as "?", "\", "[", and "]", must be preceded by a backslash. For example, "\?" finds any question mark.The caret serves as a wildcard character only when it precedes a range of characters, as in "[^A-Z]".The dash does not act as a wildcard character if it precedes a range of characters, as in "[-ABC]" or "[^-ABC]". At any other location, it acts as a wildcard character indicating a "from...to" relationship.
The following table lists available wildcard search options:
Wildcard Option
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Action
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Examples
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Wildcards for Single Characters
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.
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Finds any single character.
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[]
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Finds any one of the characters in square brackets.
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"[0123456789]" finds any digit.
"[a-zA-Z]" finds any alphabetical character.
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Finds any one character in a range enclosed in square
brackets.
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"[0-9]" finds any digit.
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[^]
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Finds any character other than the characters following the caret symbol (^) in the brackets.
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"[^ab]" finds any character, except for "a" and "b"
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\d (or [0-9])
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Finds any digit.
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\D (or [^0-9])
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Finds any character other than a digit.
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\w (or [a-zA-Z])
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Finds any character.
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[a-zA-Z]+
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Finds any word.
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\W (or [^a-zA-Z])
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Finds any character other than alphabetical characters.
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\s (or [SPACE+\t])
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Finds any white space (SPACE = space key).
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\S
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Finds any character other than a white space.
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\r
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Finds any line break (in HTML source code).
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\t
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Finds any tab character, such as indentations in HTML source code.
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\x00 - \xff
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Finds any character, as identified by its ASCII value.
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"\X43" finds "C"
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Quantifiers
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?
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The question mark makes the preceding character or string (enclosed in parentheses) optional.
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"(Adobe )?GoLive" finds "Adobe GoLive" and "GoLive".
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+
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The plus sign finds one or more occurrences of the preceding character or search string in a row.
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"ba+" finds "ba", "baa", "baaa", etc.
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*
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The star is equivalent to a "?" and a "+", and can result in a "not found" message if no occurrences are found. The character preceding the "*" is optional.
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"ba*" finds "b", "ba", "baa", etc.
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Other Search String Modifiers
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The vertical bar serves as a separator for alternative search strings.
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"Adobe|GoLive|4.0" finds "Adobe", "GoLive", and "4.0".
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()
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Parentheses enclose a search string that serves as a definition for quantifiers.
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See the description of "?" above.
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^
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In source mode, the caret finds the start of a line. In Layout view, it finds the beginning of a paragraph.
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$
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In source mode, the dollar sign finds the end of a line. In
Layout view, it finds the end of a paragraph.
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Search String
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Finds
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Adobe|GoLive
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"Adobe" or "GoLive"
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m(i|a)ll
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"mill" or "mall"
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Adobe( GoLive)?
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"Adobe GoLive" if the latter exists, else "Adobe"
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</?HTML>
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"<HTML>" and "</HTML>"
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Ye+s
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The word "Yes", containing any number of successive "e" characters, such as "Yes", "Yees", "Yeees", etc.
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Michael J[a-z]*
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Any string beginning with "Michael J", followed by any number of lowercase letters, such as "Michael Jones", "Michael Jamrosy", and "Michael Jordan"
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<H[1-6]>
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HTML headers H1 through H6, including "H1", "H2", "H3", etc.
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<[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*>
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Any start tag that has no attributes, such as "<P>", "<b>", "<H2>", "<ImaGe>"
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<[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*[^>]*>
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Any start tag, including those with attributes, such as "<image width=20>"
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Searching > Searching within a document and within a site > Using wildcards in a search
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