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Find Dialog Box

  • Article

This dialog box contains options that make it possible for you to search for text. Visual FoxPro adds several ways to access the Find dialog box from the keyboard.

Keys Description
CTRL+F Find.
CTRL+L Replace.
F3 Find Again or open Find dialog box.
CTRL+F3 Update Find with the word or selected characters at the cursor position.
CTRL+SHIFT+F3 Update Find with the word or selected characters at the cursor position for a previous occurrence.

  • Look For
    Specifies the text string for which to search.

    To search for special characters, type the following C language representations in the text boxes in the Find dialog box.

    To search for Type
    Enter \r
    Tab \t
    Backslash \\
    New line (line feed) \n

In Visual FoxPro, searches support wildcards.

  • Options
    These options define the limits and direction of the search. If you specify text to search for and do not get the expected results, make sure you have the correct options selected.

    • Match Case   Locates text that exactly matches the combination of uppercase and lowercase letters you type in the Look For box.

    • Wrap Around   Searches the current file from the insertion point to the end of the file and then from the beginning of the file to the original insertion point.

    • Match Whole Word   Locates distinct occurrences of words, not groups of characters inside words.

    • Search Backward   Searches backwards from the current insertion point position to the beginning of the file.

    • Use wildcards   Makes it possible for you to use wildcard characters in your search text.

      With Use wildcards cleared, a literal search is conducted for any characters. When Use wildcards is selected, the following rules apply:

      Character Description Usage
      ? Any single character Specified in place of the missing character.
      * Zero or more characters Specified in place of the missing character/s.
      # Any single digit Specified in place of the missing digit.
      < Beginning of a word Finds expression at beginning of a word.
      > End of a word Finds expression at end of a word. Must be placed after characters to search.
      [charlist] Set of characters Matches any one of the specified characters in the brackets. Set can be a range, separated by a dash (–) (for example, [a-d]).
      [!charlist] Exclude characters Matches any character except those following the exclamation mark in brackets.
      \ Escape Matches the character following the backslash (\). This makes it possible for you to find characters used in the regular expression notation, such as * and >.
  • Scope
    Defines how extensive the search is. The Scope options are enabled when you are editing a procedure in a Code window.
    • Current Procedure   Searches only the current procedure, which is displayed in the Code window.
    • Current Object   Searches all procedures (event code) in the current (selected) object.
    • All Objects   Searches all procedures (event code) in all objects in the current form or form set. If Wrap Around is selected, only the current method or event, will be searched.
  • Find Next
    Finds the next occurrence of the string you typed in the Look For box.
  • Replace
    Expands the dialog box by adding a Replace All button and the Replace With text entry box, in which you can specify replacement text.

See Also

Replace Dialog Box | Paste Special Dialog Box | Go To Line Dialog Box | Insert Object Dialog Box | Change Icon Dialog Box | Edit Links Dialog Box | Code window