How to replace a formula string with * in the leading position?

[Seaq]

It's convenient to use Edit -- Replace tool to change part of a formula
string with repeated characters, but strings that starting leading by the
asterisk mark (*) seem to be an exception, for instance, if your want to
replace a selected area with something like b7*sum(....) to b7/sum(...), you
input find "*sum(...)" replace by "/sum(...)", all you can get is "/sum(...)"

Maybe (*) is reserved by Excel, but are there ways to solve this problem?

 

[T. Valko]

Try it like this:

~*sum(...)

In Edit>Replace Excel thinks the asterisk is a wildcard. You need to tell it
that the asterisk is the literal asterisk character. You do that by
preceding the asterisk or any other wildcard like the question mark ? with
the tilde character ~.

 

[Seaq]

Very useful, thanks a lot!

Try it like this:

~*sum(...)

In Edit>Replace Excel thinks the asterisk is a wildcard. You need to tell it
that the asterisk is the literal asterisk character. You do that by
preceding the asterisk or any other wildcard like the question mark ? with
the tilde character ~.

 

[T. Valko]

You're welcome. Thanks for the feedback!