Finding and replacing tab characters

Question

Finding and replacing tab characters

I'm using Pages and noticed that it can do a find and replace. I have a document with too many tab characters. I asked Pages to show them and it did. Then I told it to replace every "two tabs" with "one tab". It can neither find the tabs nor replace them. It can find one paragraph mark and then gives up and can't find any more when I ask it to find "next". Something seems very wrong, but I'm not sure what it is. I don't want to have to open Text Wrangler to do something Pages seems to think it can do.

PowerMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Mar 10, 2009 11:34 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Mar 10, 2009 11:40 AM in response to Pamela Mullen2

Pamela,

In cases such as this you can Copy the character you want to search for directly from your text and Paste it into the search field. That way if it is some variant that looks the same but has a different code, Find and Replace will be able to locate it.

Jerry

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 10, 2009 11:55 AM in response to Pamela Mullen2

Pamela,

Sampling what you are searching for is always a good idea.

As is clearing out your Find and replace fields by tabbing into them, selecting all (cmd A) and deleting. It is very easy to have an extra line or character in there that you can't see.

Your original text could also have subtle variations in the character order or spaces between tabs that don't match your search criteria.

Best is to search on one pattern of tabs or whatever, then when searching doesn't catch anymore, sample the next set that won't replace and search on that again. Progressively eliminating all variants.

Peter

Reply

Answer 3

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Mar 10, 2009 12:48 PM in response to Pamela Mullen2

Using the Find/Replace dialog, you may fit your needs

But it would be useful to check that there is no space character between two tabs.

The 'Show Invisibles' feature is your friend.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 10 mars 2009 20:48:58)

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 10, 2009 2:09 PM in response to KOENIG Yvan

I have done everything suggested—I have cleared the "find" box and copied and pasted the "invisible" tab markers into that box. But FIND can't seem to find more than 1 instance of two tabs and it doesn't seem to replace even those two tabs with one.

I would post a couple of screen shots, but, alas, I don't know how to add an image here.

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 10, 2009 2:22 PM in response to Pamela Mullen2

Pamela,

Tabs should be visible if you have selected View > Show Invisibles. If what you think is a TAB is still invisible, it's truly an odd character, but you should still be able to select the string, copy / paste it, and Find / Replace.

Jerry

Reply

Answer 6

Bekins

Level 3

734 points

Mar 12, 2009 10:45 PM in response to Jerrold Green1

or just use *Edit > Find > Use Selection for Find* (⌘E), then Find.

Reply

Answer 7

Mar 13, 2009 8:17 AM in response to Pamela Mullen2

Using "Use selection for find" doesn't work either. I can see that I have at least 15 incidences of the ^t^t and it can't find them.

However, they were created when I copied something from the Internet and it came as a table when I pasted it into Pages. So I "converted Table to Text". Added into the table at various points were small no line, no fill boxes. The boxes cannot be seen (even using Show Invisibles) but only when I attempt a selection do they show up. Search and Find cannot handle those boxes. I solved the problem by copying the entire table into Text Edit and then copying it back into Pages. Then the double tabs without the mysterious boxes could be found and replaced.

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 13, 2009 10:36 AM in response to Pamela Mullen2

No matter what DTP application you are using, it is always a good idea to clean up your text in a pure text program such as TextEdit, iTextExpress, BBedit or TextWrangler. They get rid of non-conforming characters and any spacer images, usually containing 1 white pixel, that some web designers use to position text within a page.

They also have GREP to automate the clean up process.

Pages does not have the equivalent of *Indesign's StoryEditor* to handle this task, so using the 3rd party software in *Text Only* mode does the job.

Peter

PS Letting us know you copied and pasted this from a web page would have resolved this much faster.

Reply

Answer 9

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Mar 13, 2009 10:54 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Once again, the simple script


set the clipboard to (the clipboard as text)

is able to get rid of many of these problems.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE vendredi 13 mars 2009 18:53:58)

Reply