Metacharacters represent a character or symbol in InDesign. Metacharacters in the Text section of the Find/Change dialog box begin with a caret (^); metacharacters in the GREP section begin with a tilde (~) or backslash (\). You can type metacharacters in the Text tab or GREP tab of the Find/Change dialog box.
Character: |
Text tab metacharacter: |
GREP tab metacharacter: |
---|---|---|
Tab Character |
^t |
\t |
End of Paragraph |
^p |
\r |
Forced Line Break |
^n |
\n |
Any Page Number |
^# |
~# |
Current Page Number |
^N |
~N |
Next Page Number |
^X |
~X |
Previous Page Number |
^V |
~V |
* Any Variable |
^v |
~v |
Section Marker |
^x |
~x |
* Anchored Object Marker |
^a |
~a |
* Footnote Reference Marker |
^F |
~F |
* Index Marker |
^I |
~I |
Bullet Character |
^8 |
~8 |
Caret Character |
^^ |
\^ |
Backslash Character |
\ |
\\ |
Copyright Symbol |
^2 |
~2 |
Ellipsis |
^e |
~e |
Tilde |
~ |
\~ |
Paragraph Symbol |
^7 |
~7 |
Registered Trademark Symbol |
^r |
~r |
Section Symbol |
^6 |
~6 |
Trademark Symbol |
^d |
~d |
Open Parenthesis Character |
( |
\( |
Close Parenthesis Character |
) |
\) |
Open Brace Character |
{ |
\{ |
Close Brace Character |
} |
\} |
Open Bracket Character |
[ |
\[ |
Close Bracket Character |
] |
\] |
Em Dash |
^_ |
~_ |
En Dash |
^= |
~= |
Discretionary Hyphen |
^- |
~- |
Nonbreaking Hyphen |
^~ |
~~ |
Em Space |
^m |
~m |
En Space |
^> |
~> |
Third Space |
^3 |
~3 |
Quarter Space |
^4 |
~4 |
Sixth Space |
^% |
~% |
Flush Space |
^f |
~f |
Hair Space |
^| |
~| |
Nonbreaking Space |
^s |
~s |
Nonbreaking Space (fixed width) |
^S |
~S |
Thin Space |
^< |
~< |
Figure Space |
^/ |
~/ |
Punctuation Space |
^. |
~. |
Clipboard Contents, Formatted |
^c |
~c |
Clipboard Contents, Unformatted |
^C |
~C |
Any Double Quotation Mark |
" |
" |
Any Single Quotation Mark |
' |
' |
Straight Double Quotation Mark |
^" |
~" |
Double Left Quotation Mark |
^{ |
~{ |
Double Right Quotation Mark |
^} |
~} |
Straight Single Quotation Mark |
^' |
~' |
Single Left Quotation Mark |
^[ |
~[ |
Single Right Quotation Mark |
^] |
~] |
Standard carriage return |
^b |
~b |
Column Break |
^M |
~M |
Frame Break |
^R |
~R |
Page Break |
^P |
~P |
Odd Page Break |
^L |
~L |
Even Page Break |
^E |
~E |
Discretionary Line Break |
^j |
~a |
Right Indent Tab |
^y |
~y |
Indent to Here |
^i |
~i |
End Nested Style Here |
^h |
~h |
Nonjoiner |
^k |
~k |
Running header (paragraph style) |
^Y |
~Y |
Running header (character style) |
^Z |
~Z |
Custom text |
^u |
~u |
Last page number |
^T |
~T |
Chapter number |
^H |
~H |
Creation date |
^S |
~S |
Modification date |
^o |
~o |
Output date |
^D |
~D |
File name |
^l (lowercase L) |
~l (lowercase L) |
*Any Digit |
^9 |
\d |
*Any Letter |
^$ |
[\l\u] |
*Any Character |
^? |
. (inserts period in Change To) |
* White Space (any space or tab) |
^w |
\s (Inserts space in Change To) |
* Any word character |
\w |
|
* Any uppercase letter |
\u |
|
* Any lowercase letter |
\l |
|
* Kanji |
^K |
\K |
* Can be entered in the Find What box only, not the Change To box.