Nisus Writer Pro - Manual (Page 328)

308 Using PowerFind Finding and Replacing Text
NotFollowedBy() and NotPrecededBy()
Similar to!FollowedBy() and PrecededBy() neither NotFollowedBy() nor
NotPrecededBy() “capture” anything. Think of them as a nested!expression (or
perhaps a “grouped”, “sub”, or “contained” expression). These each require that
the nested expression to not be present. In other words, they are zero-width and
do not contribute to the full match. They function like the start/end of line
anchors (“$” and “^”) but allow somewhat arbitrary expressions. Only
NotFollowedBy() allows arbitrary expressions. NotPrecededBy() requires the
subexpression to be fixed in width, or some combination of fixed width
expressions.
CharacterInSet[] Any one or more characters, for example: vowels
CharacterNotInSet[]
Any one or more characters, for example: anything not a Tab
Repeat set
Use the Repeat set options to find a character or wild card that appears a specified number of
times. To find parts of strings, be sure to uncheck Whole Word. You cannot use Repeat options in
the Replace expression. To replace something you find with a certain number of items in the
Replace box you must enter them that many times. (Remember, you can cut copy and paste in the
Find/Replace window.)
Repeat menu commands refer to repeated occurrences of a character or wild card. Zero or one
occurrences means that the character or string is either not found or found only once; there is no
repeat. For example, the expression
(find any A followed by any B which may or may not
be there), finds each occurrence of A alone or A preceding any number of B’s.
0 or 1 Zero or one occurrence
The expression illustrated in Figure 337 (find any A or any A followed by any B but only the first
one that appears) finds A in AC and AB in ABB.
Figure 337
The “0 or 1” PowerFind expression
0 or 1 Shortest
Zero or one occurrence, the shortest occurrence
The expression illustrated in Figure 338 (find any A followed by any B which must be there at
least one (or more) time(s), but only the shortest string of them) finds only AB regardless of how
many B’s appear.
Figure 338
The “Shortest 0 or 1” PowerFind expression
0+ Zero or more repeated occurrences (“It may or may not be there.”)
0+ Shortest Zero or more repeated occurrences (“It may or may not be there.”), the shortest
occurrence
1+ One or more repeated occurrences
The expression illustrated in Figure 339 (find any A followed by any B which must be there at
least one (or more) time(s)).
1+ Shortest One or more repeated occurrences, the shortest occurrence
Figure 339
The “1+” PowerFind expression