Wildcards in Find and Replace

The Find and Replace dialog box in Word provides you with numerous options for finding text within your document. When you open it from the Edit menu or by using the Ctrl + F or Ctrl + H shortcut keys, you are generally presented with only a portion of your options. However, you can quickly display more by clicking on the More button at the bottom of the dialog box.

If you want more flexibility with your search, you can check the Use wildcards option box; this will allow you to enter wildcard characters that will give you some flexibility in your search but will also place some restrictions on the search. Here are some of the most handy wildcards:


* can be used to return results for any combination of characters; for example, c*t will return cat, cost, coat, capped, etc.

? can be used to return a single character; b?g would return big, bug, bag, big, and beg

[ ] will return words containing any of the enclosed characters; for example, p[ae]t will return pat and pet

[( ) will return words beginning with a certain string of characters; for example, [(per) will return person but not camper

( )] will return words ending with a certain string of characters; (per)] will return camper but not person

Although this is not an exhaustive list of wildcards, these are probably the most commonly used ones. For a complete listing of wildcards, consult the Microsoft help index.