Word's wildcard search finds too much text

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wardweb

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I'm trying to use Word's wildcard Find/Replace to find strings that omit the Oxford comma, like "dogs, cats, mice and birds". I'm using a Find pattern of "(<*>), (<*>), (<*>) and (<*>)" and a Replace pattern of "\1, \2, \3, and \4". But this finds a great deal of text that ends in the Find string, instead of just the Find string. How can I change the Find pattern to correct this?
 
macropod

macropod

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wardweb said:
I'm trying to use Word's wildcard Find/Replace to find strings that omit the Oxford comma, like "dogs, cats, mice and birds". I'm using a Find pattern of "(<*>), (<*>), (<*>) and (<*>)" and a Replace pattern of "\1, \2, \3, and \4". But this finds a great deal of text that ends in the Find string, instead of just the Find string. How can I change the Find pattern to correct this?
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It seems you haven't learnt much from: https://www.msofficeforums.com/word/52797-wildcard-search-using-finds-many-words.html
 
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wardweb

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You're right, macropod. That solution works fine, but I've never used the ampersand symbol in a wildcard, so I don't understand how it works in "( [! ]@)( and [! ]@)\1" to find "anionic groups and cationic groups". To find "dogs, cats, mice and birds" I've tried "( [! ]@) (, [! ]@) (, [! ]@) ( and [! ]@)", but all it does is jump to the top of the document with no "Not found" notice.
 
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