[Noisebridge-discuss] Find and replace " in Word97/OO?

[Garrett Mace]

On 1/4/2013 11:14 AM, Daniel Pitts wrote:
> On 1/4/13 11:02 AM, N wrote:
>> I am trying to clean up a 40 page text file by removing the " (quote) 
>> symbol from throughout the document.  I've got two versions of the 
>> document: Word97 and OpenOffice.
>>
>> I thought I could do this using the hexadecimal code [0x22] (which 
>> Word97 suggests will work) but it does not work.
>>
>> Does anyone know how to excise the " from this document?
>>
>> I appreciate your help.
>>
>> Nick
>>
> How about opening the document and doing a search/replace for " with a 
> blank?
>
> Unless there are "smart quotes", in which case you need to search for 
> those quotes as well.
>
> Depending on the importance of any other formatting, you might just 
> save it as a "plain-text" file and clean it up there instead. Knowing 
> the hex code for quote is superfluous.
> _______________________________________________

OpenOffice will indeed fail to find smart quotes if you fill the search 
field from your keyboard (it will put in a standard double quote).

However, in OpenOffice's find and replace dialog, there is a button at 
the bottom named "More Options" which contains a "Regular Expressions" 
checkbox. When ticked, the search field will be evaluated as a regular 
expression; in this case we only need to use it to look for several 
different types of double quotes.

Go back to the "Search for" field and hold down the Alt key while typing 
0147 on the numeric keypad (doesn't work with the numbers above your 
keyboard). Let go of the Alt key, and a smart quote will appear (it will 
not look curly, just slanted). Type the pipe symbol | and then Alt-0148. 
Another smart quote will appear, and it will probably look the same as 
the other one, but it is a different character. Then type another | and 
type in a regular double quote.

Now, you can find and replace with a blank "Replace with" field to 
remove all smart and standard quotes.