Finding Text in a Single File

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What do you want to do?

Find a text string

Start a find without using the Find dialog box

Find a string using incremental search

Find text using regular expressions

To find a text string

  1. Move the insertion point to where you want to begin your search.

    The editor uses the location of the insertion point to select a default search string.

  2. From the Edit menu, choose Find.

  3. In the Find what box, type the search text or a regular expression.

    Tip   Select the menu button to the right of the box to display a list of regular search expressions. When you select an expression from this list, the expression is substituted as the search text in the Find what box. If you do use regular expressions, be sure the Regular expression check box is selected. You can also use the drop-down list to select from a list of up to 16 previous search strings.

  4. Select any of the Find options.

  5. Start the search by clicking the Find Next or Mark All buttons.

    The Find dialog box disappears when the search begins.

  6. To continue your search, use the Find Next or Find Previous shortcut keys, or the equivalent toolbar buttons on the Edit toolbar. The default shortcut key for Find Next is F3; the default key combination for Find Previous is SHIFT+F3.

Tip   You can use buttons on the Edit toolbar to change whether searches are case-sensitive, match whole words, or use regular expressions. To view the Edit toolbar, right-click in an empty part of the menu bar and check Edit.

To start a find without using the Find dialog box

  • Type or select a search string in the Find box on the Standard toolbar, and press ENTER.

Note   You can use regular expressions with the Find box on the Standard toolbar if you have previously selected the Regular expression check box in the Find dialog box.

To find a string using incremental search

  1. From the Edit menu, choose Advanced; then choose Incremental Search.

    The cursor moves to the status bar.

  2. Begin typing the search string.

    As you type each character, the Text editor selects the matching string in your file.

  3. If necessary, press the SearchIncrementalkey combination to go to the next match in your file.

  4. Press the ESC key or use any of the navigational commands to end the search.

Note   If there is no match, the Text editor beeps and displays a warning in the status bar.