Replace Attribute Dialog Box
Use this dialog box to find and replace the values for attributes on the tags in your document. Note that the attribute you are searching for must already be present in the document. This feature cannot add an attribute to a tag.
The Replace Attribute dialog box contains the following options:
• Find — Determines the attribute or attributes for which you are searching.
The Find section contains the following options:
◦ Attributes — Determines the attribute or attributes for which to search.
You can enter the name of one or more attributes separated by spaces. You can also enter any defined alias names for attributes. If you want to search all attributes, leave this option blank. The drop down list contains previously searched for attributes from the current session.
◦ Value — Determines the attribute value for which to search.
If you want to search for any value, leave this option blank. If you want to search for an empty string, enter a space and then press the BACKSPACE to delete it. If the Exact Match and Match Case options are checked, you can search for an alias attribute value.
◦ On Tags — Determines the tags containing the attribute for which to search.
You can enter the name of one or more tags separated by spaces. You can also enter any defined alias names for tags. If you want to search all tags, leave this option blank. The drop down list contains the list of valid tags for the document.
◦ Within Tags — Determines the tags containing the tag or tags for which you are finding and replacing the attributes.
This option enables you to restrict your search to the tags contained within one or more other tags in the document. For example, you could restrict your search to just the tags contained within the paragraph tag for your document type.
You can enter the name of one or more tags separated by spaces. You can also enter any defined alias names for tags. If you want to search within all tags, leave this option blank. The drop down list contains the list of valid tags for the document.
• Replace With — Determines the attribute value with which to replace the value or values for which you are searching.
You can only enter a single attribute value or an alias attribute value in the Value option here. If you want to enter an empty string, enter a space and then press the BACKSPACE to delete it. If you want to replace the searched for value with a null value, then leave Value blank. Note that if an attribute is left with a null value after a replace, that attribute is removed from the document.
• Value Search Options — Provides options with which you can restrict your search.
The Value Search Options section contains the following options:
◦ Exact Match — Determines whether the search value must match the whole attribute value.
Once checked, this box remains checked by default for future searches.
◦ Match Case — Determines whether the search is case-sensitive.
The value of the set case advanced preference determines whether this option is checked by default. Once checked, this box remains checked for future searches.
◦ Match Patterns — Determines whether you can use regular expressions in the Value options in the dialog box.
The value of the set expressions advanced preference determines whether this option is checked by default. Once checked, this box remains checked for future searches.
The following table shows some commonly used characters in regular expressions and how to use them in the Value options.
Table 28. Common Regular Expressions
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Regular Expressions
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Character:
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Meaning:
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Example:
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Finds:
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. (period)
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Each period equals one character.
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s.t
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sit, sat, set, …
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+ (plus)
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One or more characters of those specified in square brackets.
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s[aeiou]+n
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seen, soon, son, …
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* (asterisk)
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A character can occur zero or more times.
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t[a-z]*y
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twenty, try, trusty, …
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| (vertical bar)
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"Or," which searches for either word.
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icon|tags
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icon, tags
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• Direction — Determines the direction of the search from the current cursor location.
The Direction section contains the following options:
◦ Up — Searches toward the top of the document.
◦ Down — Searches toward the bottom of the document.
This is the default.
• Found — Displays the attribute that is the current focus of the search.
• Find Next — Searches for the next occurrence of the value or values from the Find section.
• Replace — Replaces the attribute value that is the current focus of the search with the replacement value, and searches for the next occurrence.
• Replace All — Replaces all occurrences of the attributes value or values for which you are searching with the replacement value without prompting at each occurrence.
You can choose to search the contents of file entities in the
Edit category of the > dialog box. Check the box for
Search File Entities on Find. The
set entityscan advanced preference setting also controls this setting.
Related information