Skip to main content
S
Sarah27512751r6l7
Participating Frequently
June 13, 2023
Answered

Selecting "all instances" characters with variable numbers at the end

  • June 13, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 552 views

Hello! 

 

I have a 400page plus document and I would like to find all instances of "W: $??????" where the question marks are variable numbers, (for the sake of explaining here), up to 6 character but could be as few as 2 numbers. The "W: $" remain the same in all instances.

 

I need to find all of these instances and delete. Is there a way to find this when there are variable numbers at the end?

 

Thanks for helping!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Barb Binder

    So how about?

    Find: 

    W: \$\d+,?(\d+)?\.?(\d{2})? / 

    (with a space before and after the slash at the end)

     

    But here's another idea. InDesign has a feature called conditional text. You could find the wholesale numbers as shown above and then assign a condition tag called wholesale that you can show and hide. That way you could have one document that has both sets of numbers, but at any point you can click off the eyeball for conditional text and it would hide the wholesale numbers automatically. One more click would show them again.

     

    ~Barb

    2 replies

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 14, 2023

    So how about?

    Find: 

    W: \$\d+,?(\d+)?\.?(\d{2})? / 

    (with a space before and after the slash at the end)

     

    But here's another idea. InDesign has a feature called conditional text. You could find the wholesale numbers as shown above and then assign a condition tag called wholesale that you can show and hide. That way you could have one document that has both sets of numbers, but at any point you can click off the eyeball for conditional text and it would hide the wholesale numbers automatically. One more click would show them again.

     

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
      S
      Sarah27512751r6l7Author
      Participating Frequently
      June 14, 2023

      Thank you!

        Barb Binder
        Community Expert
        Barb BinderCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        June 14, 2023

        You are welcome. I realized after setting it up that you don't get into the thousands so you could reduce it to:

         

        Find:

        W: \$\d+\.?(\d{2})? / 

        (again a space before and after the final /)

         

        ~Barb

        ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        Peter Spier
        Community Expert
        Peter SpierCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        June 13, 2023

        Find  W: \$\d{2,6}

        Leave the change field blank

        Peter Spier
        Community Expert
        Peter SpierCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        June 13, 2023

        Edit: This will find the first six digits in a seven-or longer sequence so if that's a problem you'll need to modify in some way.

        In fact, you'll probably want to modify anyway to remove a space before or after the deleted text as well. Can you show us some examples of what the text looks like so we can suggest a way to do that?

        S
        Sarah27512751r6l7Author
        Participating Frequently
        June 13, 2023

        Here is what the text box looks like. There is a wholesale price and retail price. I need to remove the wholesale price and the slash and space after. Prices can vary from ones, tens and hundreds. Some don't have the .00 after the dollar amount. Thank you for your help!

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices