Word 2002 Search/Replace : a bug/feature or is it me?

Hi!

Problem:

Replace occurrences of "[" (without the " ") or "]" with "«" or "»"

I get the "[" replaced with " i.e a double quote. Why? Are these replacement
characters special for word use?

Thanks.

Suzanne
Wed Oct 08 22:50:21 CDT 2003

Because "«" and "»" are quotation marks in French (and possibly other
languages), Word is parsing them as being the same as "curly quotes." If you
replace " with ", you get curly or straight quotes depending on the current
setting in AutoFormat As You Type. I suspect that the result you're seeing
is somehow due to AutoFormat. You might try what happens if you set the
language for the "Replace with" box to French.


--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
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"Mal Ice" <malice@x-barrysworld.com> wrote in message
news:3jn8ov4bhqm5mjrhassi2mrg9ojfbfkj3t@4ax.com...
> Hi!
>
> Problem:
>
> Replace occurrences of "[" (without the " ") or "]" with "«" or "»"
>
> I get the "[" replaced with " i.e a double quote. Why? Are these
replacement
> characters special for word use?
>
> Thanks.

Mal
Thu Oct 09 14:42:06 CDT 2003

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 22:50:21 -0500, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill@mvps.org>
wrotf:

>Because "«" and "»" are quotation marks in French (and possibly other
>languages), Word is parsing them as being the same as "curly quotes." If you
>replace " with ", you get curly or straight quotes depending on the current
>setting in AutoFormat As You Type. I suspect that the result you're seeing
>is somehow due to AutoFormat. You might try what happens if you set the
>language for the "Replace with" box to French.

I changed the language to French but the replace still insisted on changing the
« with "
The auto correct settings are "out of the box" and so I am at a loss as to why
an auto correct feature should be doing this.

If replace "[" with " «" (space«) I actually get " «" . Very odd behaviors.

Mal

Mal
Thu Oct 09 14:50:46 CDT 2003

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 20:42:06 +0100, Mal Ice <malice@x-barrysworld.com> wrotf:

>On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 22:50:21 -0500, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill@mvps.org>
>wrotf:
>
>>Because "«" and "»" are quotation marks in French (and possibly other
>>languages), Word is parsing them as being the same as "curly quotes." If you
>>replace " with ", you get curly or straight quotes depending on the current
>>setting in AutoFormat As You Type. I suspect that the result you're seeing
>>is somehow due to AutoFormat. You might try what happens if you set the
>>language for the "Replace with" box to French.
>
>I changed the language to French but the replace still insisted on changing the
>« with "
>The auto correct settings are "out of the box" and so I am at a loss as to why
>an auto correct feature should be doing this.
>
>If replace "[" with " «" (space«) I actually get " «" . Very odd behaviors.
>
>Mal


An update....... I turned of the smart quotes auto type setting and the replace
works fine.

I still say that's odd behavior for an English O/s with English language
changing a standard ASCI character to a different character because of smart
quotes rules in another language. Perhaps auto-type / auto correct should be
turned off for search and replace functions.

Mal