Finding and deleting question marks
 

Hi all,
I know that in Excel the question mark is a wildcard, standing for any
character, but is there any way in the Find and Replace function to treat a
question mark as you would any other text and replace only question marks
with something else, rather than running the risk of replacing every
character in the sheet?
Thanks!

Finding and deleting question marks
 

Try this:

You need to indicate to Excel that you want to find a literal question mark
(instead of a wildcard) by putting a tilde (~) in front of it. The tilde is
on the key just above the tab key on most keyboards.

Example:
EditFind
Find what: ~?

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"jezzica85" wrote:

Hi all,
I know that in Excel the question mark is a wildcard, standing for any
character, but is there any way in the Find and Replace function to treat a
question mark as you would any other text and replace only question marks
with something else, rather than running the risk of replacing every
character in the sheet?
Thanks!

Finding and deleting question marks
 

"jezzica85" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
I know that in Excel the question mark is a wildcard, standing for any
character, but is there any way in the Find and Replace function to treat
a
question mark as you would any other text and replace only question marks
with something else, rather than running the risk of replacing every
character in the sheet?
Thanks!

There's very little risk when you make a mistake like you just described.
When it happens, immediately put your hands behind your head like you're
being arrested. Away from the keyboard, in other words. Take a deep breath,
put your hands down, click Edit, and look at the topmost choice, beginning
with the word "Undo". ALT-Backspace is a keyboard shortcut for that
function.

There are a few things you can't undo - I don't recall which. But, the
Search-Replace thing is definitely reversible.

Finding and deleting question marks
 

Thanks for the advice, and thanks Ron for the trick, it works great!

"Doug Kanter" wrote:


"jezzica85" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
I know that in Excel the question mark is a wildcard, standing for any
character, but is there any way in the Find and Replace function to treat
a
question mark as you would any other text and replace only question marks
with something else, rather than running the risk of replacing every
character in the sheet?
Thanks!

There's very little risk when you make a mistake like you just described.
When it happens, immediately put your hands behind your head like you're
being arrested. Away from the keyboard, in other words. Take a deep breath,
put your hands down, click Edit, and look at the topmost choice, beginning
with the word "Undo". ALT-Backspace is a keyboard shortcut for that
function.

There are a few things you can't undo - I don't recall which. But, the
Search-Replace thing is definitely reversible.