Word range find execute

Find.Execute method (Word)

Runs the specified find operation. Returns True if the find operation is successful. Boolean.

Syntax

expression.Execute (FindText, MatchCase, MatchWholeWord, MatchWildcards, MatchSoundsLike, MatchAllWordForms, Forward, Wrap, Format, ReplaceWith, Replace, MatchKashida, MatchDiacritics, MatchAlefHamza, MatchControl)

expression Required. A variable that represents a Find object.

Parameters

Return value

Boolean

Remarks

If MatchWildcards is True, you can specify wildcard characters and other advanced search criteria for the FindText argument. For example, «*(ing)» finds any word that ends in «ing».

To search for a symbol character, type a caret (^), a zero (0), and then the symbol’s character code. For example, «^0151» corresponds to an em dash (—).

Unless otherwise specified, replacement text inherits the formatting of the text it replaces in the document. For example, if you replace the string «abc» with «xyz», occurrences of «abc» with bold formatting are replaced with the string «xyz» with bold formatting.

Also, if MatchCase is False, occurrences of the search text that are uppercase will be replaced with an uppercase version of the replacement text, regardless of the case of the replacement text. Using the previous example, occurrences of «ABC» are replaced with «XYZ».

Example

This example finds and selects the next occurrence of the word «library».

With Selection.Find 
    .ClearFormatting 
    .MatchWholeWord = True 
    .MatchCase = False 
    .Execute FindText:="library" 
End With

This example finds all occurrences of the word «hi» in the active document and replaces each occurrence with «hello».

Set myRange = ActiveDocument.Content 
myRange.Find.Execute FindText:="hi", _ 
    ReplaceWith:="hello", Replace:=wdReplaceAll

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Word VBA Find

This example is a simple word macro find the text “a”:

Sub SimpleFind()

    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "a"
        .Replacement.Text = ""
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindAsk
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute
End Sub

Find and Replace

This simple macro will search for the word “their” and replace it with “there”:

Sub SimpleReplace()

    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "their"
        .Replacement.Text = "there"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

Find and Replace Only in Selection

This VBA macro will find and replace text in a selection. It will also italicize the replaced text.

Sub ReplaceInSelection()
'replaces text JUST in selection . in adittion it makes replaced text italic
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "their"

        With .Replacement
            .Font.Italic = True
            .Text = "there"
        End With

        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindStop    'this prevents Word from continuing to the end of doc
        .Format = True 'we want to replace formatting of text as well
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = True
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

This line of code prevents VBA from continuing to the end of the Word document:

.Wrap = wdFindStop    'this prevents Word from continuing to the end of doc

This line of code indicates to replace the formatting of the text as well:

.Format = True 'we want to replace formatting of text as well

Find and Replace Only In Range

Instead of replacing text throughout the entire document, or in a selection, we can tell VBA to find and replace only in range.  In this example we defined the range as the first paragraph:

Dim oRange As Range
Set oRange = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range

Sub ReplaceInRange()
'replaces text JUST in range [in this example just in the first paragraph]
Dim oRange As Range
Set oRange = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range
 oRange.Find.ClearFormatting
    oRange.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With oRange.Find
        .Text = "their"
        .Replacement.Text = "there"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindStop 'this prevent Word to continue to the end of doc
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    oRange.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub