Find / Change dialog

Work with the find and change dialog in FrameMaker.

To open the Find/Change dialog, choose Edit > Find/Change.

Figure 1. The Find/Change dialog

Find

Select the type of FrameMaker item to search. You can search for text and other Structured authoring.

Note: Whatever text that you search for gets stored in the Find drop-down list. The search history is maintained across FrameMaker sessions.

Simple Search

Searches as per the text entered in the Find field.

Wildcards

Searches based on the wildcard rules defined in the Find field:

Wildcard	Description	Sample
*	Star. Any number of characters	`*orm` searches for: `form` or `inform`
\|	Pipe. Spaces or punctuation
.	Dot. Any one character	`fo.m` searches for `form` or `foam`
^	Caret. Start of a line
$	End of line
[ab]	Any one of the bracketed characters	`f[ao]rm` searches for `farm` or `form`
[^ab]	Any character except the bracketed characters	`f[^ao]rm` searches for `f` followed by any character except the `a` and `o` followed by `rm`
[a-f]	Any character in the specified range	`f[b-e]rm` searches for `farm` or `form` but not, for example, `ferm`

Note: When performing a wildcard find, use the backslash character when finding a character that has special meaning to wildcards. For example, \* searches precisely for * (the star character).

Regular Expressions

Searches based on the regular expression defined in the Find field.

Regular expression	Description	Sample
*	Star. Zero or more instances	`*orm` searches for: `form` or `inform`, or `frm`
.	Dot. Any one character	`fo.m` searches for `form` or `foam`
+	Plus. One Any one character	`fo.m` searches for `form` or `foam`
?	Restrict the search to the next specified character	`fo.+?m` searches for `fo` followed by one or more characters (any) followed by `m`
\d	A digit	`\d+` Searches for a number with one or more digits
{n}	Specific number of instances	`so{1}n` searches for `son` but not `soon`
{n,m}	Range of instances	`so{1-2}n` searches for `son` and `soon` but not `sooon`
{n,}	Range `n` to `m` within braces.	`so{1-2}n` searches for `son` and `soon` but not `sooon`
^	Caret. Start of a line
$	End of line
[ab]	Any one of the bracketed characters	`f[ao]rm` searches for `farm` or `form`
[^ab]	Any character except the bracketed characters	`f[^ao]rm` searches for `f` followed by any character except the `a` and `o` followed by `rm`
[a-f]	Any character in the specified range	`f[b-e]rm` searches for `farm` or `form` but not, for example, `ferm`

Note: When performing a regular expression find, use the backslash character when finding a character that has special meaning to regular expressions. For example, \* searches precisely for * (the star character).

Consider Case

Case-sensitive search

Whole word

Search for a whole word. For example, the search for the whole word so, finds so but not soon.

Find Backward

By default, the Find functionality searches from the start to the end of a document or book. Choose this option to search backwards.

Change

Select the item type to change the found item.

Regular expression change includes a capture group functionality. For example, to find the dates in a document and change the format from dd-mm-yyyy to mm-dd-yyyy, use the following regular expression:

(\d{2})-(\d{2})-(\d{4})

The round brackets on the date, month, and year parts of the regular expression are capture groups. Each capture group is captured within the regular expression variables $1, $2, $3 etc.

To swap the month group with the date group:

$2-$1-$3

Note: If you choose Change or Change & Find when no text is selected in the document, FrameMaker inserts or applies the replacement item at the insertion point.

Clone Case

Ensure that the changed item follows the same casing as the found item. For example, find so and change to soon with Clone Case selected change so to soon and So to Soon.

Look in

Choose to find for items in a book, map, document, or current selection.

Search within nested DITA maps

FrameMaker provides the feature to search for different types of content within the nested DITA maps. For example, when you search for a string in a DITA map, FrameMaker also searches for it in all the DITA maps nested in the current map.

FrameMaker opens all the nested DITA maps one by one and searches the string in them:

If the document contains the string, it is opened, and the text is highlighted.
If the document does not contain the string, the search continues with the following document.

Once the search is complete, FrameMaker displays a success message as Finished searching (if the string is found and highlighted) or a failed message as Not found (if no instances are found).

You can also Find and then Change the text in nested DITA maps. The text is replaced in the files, and you are prompted to save them when you try to close them.

This feature helps you quickly find and replace all occurrences of a string within many nested maps. It enables you to maintain consistency. For example, you can quickly change the string “FrameMaker” with “Adobe FrameMaker” in all the nested DITA maps.

Note: The find operation will skip any locked files.

Find and change the object styles

To find an object with a specific object style applied, do the following:

Open the .fm document in which you want to search the objects with specific object styles applied to them.
Select Object Style Tag in the Find drop-down list.
Select the object style that you want to search. For example, MyRed object style.

Warning: You must search for a correct object style; else you will get an error.

If you want to search all objects which have any or no object style applied on them, select Anchored Frame from the Find drop-down list. This will help you to search all objects present in anchored frames and apply a specific object style to all of them in one go.
Select Object Style Tag To: from the Change drop-down list.
Select the object style that you want to change to. For example, MyGreen object style.

Note: If you try to apply an object style that has a property which is not valid for the selected object, you will get an error. For example, you cannot set Runaround properties for an anchored frame.
Click Find.

FrameMaker finds the object wilt the selected object style. If no objects with the select style are present, then you get an error.
When FrameMaker finds the object, do one of the following:
1. To make the change to the found object but not continue searching for other occurrences of the object, click Change.
  
  Warning: You must search for a correct object style in the Change dropdown list, else FrameMaker displays an error when you try to change the object style.
2. To make the change to the found object and then continue searching for other occurrences, click Change & Find.
3. To change all occurrences of the found objects in the document or only the occurrences in the current selection and click Change All.

FrameMaker displays the following details if some or no changes are done:

Total number of changes requested: <number of objects found with the searched style>.
Success: <Number of objects changed successfully>
Failed: <Number of objects which have not been changed>

You can refer to the console for details about the failed changes and do a Find/Change again after fixing the issues.

FrameMaker displays a success message on changing the object style of all the objects which have the searched object style.