InDesign GREP eror

[hershy_schnitzler]

When searching items between Parenthesis () with the GREP method \(.+\) why do I get selected the text starting from the first "(" untill the last ")" in that paragraph, if there is more than one () in that paragraph?

it should have select only one "(" to the next ")"

or maybe i'm using GREP wrong?

see photo

 

[Manan Joshi · Accepted solution]

You coukd try the following

\(.+?\)

Which means select as small no. of characters as possible in between () so this should fix you issue

-Manan

[Jongware]

^^ because by default GREP is greedy: it tries to match as much as possible with each of the '+', '*', and '{..}' repeat modifiers.

You can see this (more obvious) if you search for something simple like

a+

If GREP was not greedy, it would only select the very first occurrence of an 'a' -- usually not what you would want here! (Because then why have a '+' there.) Adding a '?' immediately after the repeat modifier changes the behavior to match as soon as possible. For example, where 'a+' would match all the 'a's in "aaargh!", 'a+?' only matches the first one.

[hershy_schnitzler]

thank you manan, your answer is correct.

this GREP code \(.+\) is selectin all items in aparragraph that is in between ()

and this GREP code \(.+?\) is selecting only one () at a time

 

[Manan Joshi]

Another option could be

\([^()]+\)

Which basically means select all characters between () which are any characters but not ()

-Manan