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Micah5C08
Inspiring
May 22, 2025
Answered

Grep Styles Help. Apply to style after last question mark only.

  • May 22, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 1633 views

I have a paragraph that asks several questions. After the last question I want the GREP style to apply to give the answer to the questions a different color to get this result.

"Where was it? When did it happen? At the market at 5:00 p.m."

 

This below works for finding the question mark, but the problem is that it finds every single one.

(?<=\?).+

Giving me this problem.

"Where was it? When did it happen? At the market at 5:00 p.m."

 

Is it possible to find only the last occorance of the question mark?

Thanks!

Correct answer Peter Kahrel

I hadn't spotted that the closing " should be excluded. Itt should be like this:

[^?]+(?="$)

which also fixes the problem of selecting lines that don't contain any question marks.

3 replies

Peter Kahrel
Community Expert
Peter KahrelCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 23, 2025

It's much more simple:

[^?]+$

 In other words, 'not-question mark to the end of the paragraph'.

    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Legend
    May 23, 2025
    quote

    It's much more simple:

    [^?]+$

     In other words, 'not-question mark to the end of the paragraph'.


    By @Peter Kahrel

     

    You are Genius 😄

     

    I was playing with exclusion - but I was using "!" instead of  "^" 😞

     

    E
    Community Expert
    Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 22, 2025
    (?<=\?(?!.*\?)).+?.+(?=")
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Legend
      May 22, 2025
      quote
      (?<=\?(?!.*\?)).+?.+(?=")

       

      Unfortunately, it doesn't work?

       

       

      E
      Community Expert
      Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 22, 2025

      Works for me in 2025 and in 2023

       

      Have to admit it didn't work when I copied it from the forum that's for sure. 

      It did actually work - something didn't copy right first time - but it does work for me now - oddity with the forum maybe.

       

       

       

       

      (?<=\?(?!.*\?)).+?.+(?=")

       

      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Legend
      May 22, 2025

      I'm replying from my phone so can't check right now: 

       

      \?.+$

       

      "$" represents end of paragraph. 

       

      But it will also style "?" so you still need to play with those look ahead / behind. 

       

      I hope it will at least get you on the right track. 

       

      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Legend
      May 22, 2025

      Or maybe this will work? 

       

      \?\K.+$

       

      But InDesign's GREP is greedy - so you might still need to add extra "?" somewhere... 

       

      As I've said, I'm on my phone so just brainstorming. 

       

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