How to use wildcard in excel find and replace. The asterisk (*) is the most versatile of all.
How to use wildcard in excel find and replace By mastering the use of the asterisk and its placement—whether between two markers, before a specific string, or after a specific string—users gain unmatched precision in data cleaning and standardization. Available wildcards Excel has 3 wildcards you can use in Use wildcard characters as comparison criteria for text filters and when you're searching and replacing content. , "texts are [Any Text]") with a fixed Learn how to use the wildcard characters in Excel with real example formulas and practice exercises. The Power of Wildcard Characters in Excel The Excel Find and Replace functionality is a robust tool designed to quickly locate specific text strings and substitute them with desired characters or leave them blank. Jul 26, 2018 · This tip is useful when you want to replace or find text using Wildcards, e. They can be used to find and replace text, numbers, or a combination of both. Press CTRL + F to launch the Find and Replace dialog box. Regex allows you to define patterns to match complex text strings, making it ideal for tasks like replacing dynamic phrases (e. . In this section, we’ll cover the available wildcards, for example, wildcard usage and functions that support wildcards. Here’s a basic example Use the Find and Replace features in Excel to search for something in your workbook, such as a particular number or text string. Benefits of using Wildcards in Excel: Utilizing wildcards can lead to time-saving and efficiency in searching for data. How to do a wildcard search Excel considers some characters to be wildcards when performing a custom search and there are 3 such characters. You can search by rows and columns, search within 4 days ago · Learn how to master partial matches in Excel, from traditional wildcard characters to using AI tools for faster, more intuitive data lookups and analysis. May 27, 2020 · In this blog, we would learn what are the wildcard characters and how can you use the wildcard characters in Excel to filter your data or do a partial Vlookup and many more exciting things. Then, copy the formula results, and paste as values over the original data. Looking to find and replace text using wildcards? Wondering how to use them? In this video, we'll show you how to use wildcards to find and replace text in your documents. This situation is particularly common when handling data entered manually, either by staff or customers, creating extra values in the database and could make analysis difficult. You can either locate the search item for reference, or you can replace it with something else. In this article, we will explore what wildcards are, how to use them, and some common examples of wildcard usage in Excel. Searching for a better way to work together in Microsoft Word Documents? May 12, 2015 · It does in the find part pof the function; and heres the help text:In the Find what box, type the text or numbers that you want to search for, or click the arrow in the Find what box, and then click a recent search in the list. Sep 10, 2022 · Excel includes a rather simplistic find and replace capability. A lot of cells that have *12, *11, *10, etc. For example, Like R?308021 Learn how to find and replace wildcard characters in Excel with ease! In this tutorial, we'll show you how to use the asterisk (*) wildcard to search for and Feb 16, 2025 · Home > Data > Find > Find and Replace Excel Find and Replace Examples show how to use the Find and Replace commands to find text in a worksheet or workbook, or replace text with other text, or no text. This is the formula that I'm using: =SUBSTITUTE("blah blah blah replace this and that blah","replace*that","it is done") The formula isn't replacing the text, though, and evaluates to "blah blah blah replace this and that blah" What is going on? Apr 24, 2025 · Discover how to use Excel search and replace wildcards to simplify data management, leveraging asterisks, question marks, and tilde characters for precise pattern matching and substitution, enhancing data cleaning and formatting tasks with efficient wildcard searches. You can use them to find and replace text, match patterns, and more. Find in Excel To open the Find and Replace dialog box to search for, do one of the following: On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the Find & Select button: In this video, we are going to learn How to use wildcard characters in Excel with the Find and Replace option. Aug 17, 2023 · This tutorial explains how to use the Find and Replace feature in Excel with wildcard characters, including several examples. Jun 11, 2023 · Learn how to find and replace wildcard characters in Excel as normal text using tilde special characters. Here we discuss how to use the three types of wildcards with examples and downloadable excel template. Also see the FIND function page - formulas to find text (case-sensitive) Jan 6, 2020 · Wildcard represents one or more other characters. You can search by rows and columns, search within Guide to Wildcard In Excel. Dec 22, 2024 · Master the art of data manipulation with Excel's powerful find and replace wildcard feature. Hope that does the trick!! Feb 12, 2025 · In Excel's world, the asterisk isn't just a punctuation mark; it's a wildcard character. I need to search for any content with, I assume, the wildcard ' * ' and add a text string before the content found. And a tilde (~). Jan 29, 2025 · That’s where Excel’s Find and Replace tool shines. ly/tech4excel Learn how to use Excel's Find and Replace feature to easily jump to specific data. When you are looking for something but not exactly sure exactly what, wildcards are a perfect solution. May 11, 2022 · I have a column range (stored as text) where I have to replace second last digit from 7 to 5 for only cells ending in "-fsa". In the Criteria row of the field that you want to use, type the operator Like in front of your criteria. Wildcards are useful when you are not able to find an exact match. And this formula: = COUNTIF (A1:A100,"???") Counts all cells in A1:A100 that contain exactly 3 characters. How do I di Nov 18, 2025 · How to Find and Replace Values Using Wildcards in Excel Microsoft Excel is an immensely powerful tool for data management, analysis, and presentation. Word provides a very convenient "find and replace" feature that allows you to use wildcards and even find similar words. Suppose we want to find Emily, the name of an employee working in a company. Dec 24, 2024 · Wildcards in Excel are powerful tools that allow users to perform complex search and replace operations on data within a spreadsheet. Aug 12, 2024 · 4 Different Methods to Find and Replace Asterisk (*) Character in Excel. Aug 30, 2024 · How to use Find and Replace Using the Find and Replace feature is pretty simple. Or select it from the Editing group. Jun 16, 2024 · Method 2 – Using a Wildcard to Find and Replace within Selection If you need to modify or delete data containing specific values, wildcards can be used to find and replace within the selection. Examples of using wildcards with expressions. In your simplified example, if you went to find / replace and typed in: Find What: Blabla* Replace With: Blabla That would do the trick and remove anything following Blabla. This tip examines ways you can work around this limitation and use wildcards in your replacements. There are different types of wildcard characters, each of them with different uses. Learn how to efficiently remove wildcard characters in Excel using Find & Replace. Wildcards are special characters that allow you to perform “fuzzy” matching on text in your formulas. Here, I will show you how to use wildcards in Excel. Learn how to use Replace with Wildcard in Excel to clean data efficiently and extract names from email addresses with ease. Jan 2, 2025 · Learn how to use wildcard in Excel for efficient find and replace operations, simplifying data management with asterisk, question mark, and tilde symbols, and master Excel formulas and functions for advanced spreadsheet editing and data analysis techniques. One of its most potent features is the ability to perform complex searches, replacements, and data manipulations using wildcards. Use wildcard characters as comparison criteria for text filters and when you're searching and replacing content. Jul 15, 2024 · While working in Excel sheets, sometimes you need to use wildcards for many purposes. Mar 7, 2020 · Learn how to find and replace in Excel. Plus extra info about wildcards, removing values, finding line breaks and more options. While standard searches are useful, the true efficiency of this feature is unlocked through the strategic use of wildcard characters. Jun 2, 2023 · This tutorial explains how to use the SUBSTITUTE function in Excel with wildcard characters, including examples. Sep 4, 2021 · With wildcards in Excel, you can narrow down your search in spreadsheets. The three elements (each is enclosed in parentheses) of the Find are: ( [\ (]) — You need to find a specific character (the opening parenthesis), so you need to enclose it in parentheses. We have the following example data. The practical examples Jan 14, 2020 · When using Find and Replace, sometimes you might need to perform partial matches using wildcard characters. Dec 29, 2023 · Join us as we explore the nuances of wildcard characters and demonstrate how to harness them to streamline your searches within an Excel workbook. In this short Excel tutorial, you’ Jul 30, 2019 · blah blah blah it is done blah using the SUBSTITUTE function in excel using wildcard characters. Oct 16, 2024 · In the Replace dialog, did you click the More button and check the box for "Use wildcards"? If you want to use a search expression like [R^#^#] then you should NOT check that box. A question mark (?) matches exactly one character. This is where **Regular Expressions (Regex)** shine. A wildcard is a special character that lets you perform "fuzzy" matching on text in your Excel formulas. Add an asterisk wherever you're uncertain of a section of text. Nov 12, 2025 · Thankfully, Excel’s wildcard characters can help you get there faster. You can include wildcard characters such as question marks, tildes, and asterisks, or numbers in your search terms. What are Wildcards? Wildcards are characters that are used to repres Using Find & Replace to delete wildcard characters in Excel can be tricky because of the special uses of these characters. May 30, 2025 · Excel wildcard characters are special symbols that help users perform partial matches and flexible data operations across large datasets. In this post, you will learn how to use wildcard characters in Excel. Click Settings Select Advanced Settings Tick the Use wildcards box Choose the wildcard character Type additional text in the Find box Type replacement word in the Replace box Press Replace All You have now successfully used wildcards in an advanced find and replace. Note: check "Match entire cell contents" to exclude partial matches (we want to count cells). Note that with non-wildcard expressions like this, you'll need to do three separate searches for references with one-, two-, or three-digit numbers. Nov 2, 2024 · Why Use Excel Find and Replace Wildcard? If youre not familiar with wildcards, they’re special characters that represent unknown or variable characters in your data. If you’re an Excel user, you’ve probably heard of wildcards. * of course matches the ENTIRE contents of the cell, which is not what I want. Replace one or more characters in the criteria with a wildcard character. Press CTRL F to open the dialog box. Jan 6, 2022 · This tutorial will demonstrate how to use wildcard characters in Excel and Google Sheets. Using VBA Find and Replace You can search for an expression and use the \ n wildcard character to replace the search string with the rearranged expression. The short video below shows you the steps. Jan 15, 2016 · What version of Excel are you using? I have 2016, I just followed the steps in the "Wildcards for items you want to replace" section, using your example above, and was able to find "texts are *" and replace all instances with "texts are replaced" and it worked as expected, unless I'm misunderstanding Apr 6, 2023 · Wildcards can be a staple when it comes to customizing searches in any Google workplace application. Excel is a must-have in every consultant/developer’s toolbox. You can also use it to quickly correct errors. Jul 2, 2014 · To Change Cell References Using Excel Find and Replace Sometimes when you work with a lot of formulas, there is a need to change a cell reference in all the formulas. To do that, we will enter her name in the Find dialog box as: Mar 21, 2023 · Learn how to use Excel Find and Replace to search for specific text or numbers in a worksheet or in all open workbooks. Nov 18, 2025 · Learn how to efficiently find and replace values in Excel using wildcards like `*`, `?`, `~*`, and `~?`. and I want to replace all of these to be *1. Wildcards simplify the process of working with large datasets and allow users to find, replace, or Sep 25, 2018 · Excel supports wildcard characters in formulas to find values that share a simple pattern. if you have a column where you would like to replace everything after the space character with text. Enter the search term in the "Find what" field of the Find and Replace window. For example, this formula: = COUNTIF (B5:B11,"*combo") counts all cells in the range B5:B11 that end with the text "combo". A wildcard is a placeholder that can represent any sequence of characters. Open your spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. One of its most useful features is the ability to find and replace data efficiently. They are useful when working with data sets with similar, but not identical data. You can also use wildcard characters in the Find What box, to make the find feature more flexible. Jun 18, 2020 · To replace all the cells having inconsistently written India and USA and replace it with a specific text like ‘India-USA’, we can use the ‘Find and Replace’ feature along with the wildcard characters. Oct 9, 2014 · 1 Excel's Find & Replace does allow for wildcard characters. Here are some examples. If you have more complex needs, you'll need to seek out alternatives. Understanding how to use them can greatly improve efficiency and productivity. See full list on automateexcel. Aug 2, 2006 · SUMMARY Microsoft Excel uses the tilde (~) as a marker to indicate that the next character is a literal. An asterisk (*) matches zero or more characters. For example 2 days ago · Microsoft Excel is a powerhouse for data manipulation, but when it comes to text cleaning or pattern-based transformations, users often hit a wall with basic find-and-replace. For example, type (Newman) (Belinda) in the Find what box and \2 \1 in the Replace with box. Mar 26, 2019 · To use wildcards in Excel’s Find and Replace, simply type your search term with the appropriate wildcard character in the “Find what” field. For example, typing “s*t” will find all cells containing words that start with “s” and end with “t”, like “sat”, “set”, or “submit”. When I try to do a find replace of '*12' it replaces everything prior to the *12 since the * is flagged as the wildcard Aug 30, 2024 · Hop on here to learn to use wildcard characters in the find and replace feature of Excel. Jun 12, 2007 · I am trying to do a find replace on formulas that include * for multiplication. Nov 12, 2015 · I am trying to find and replace the * (star, or shift+8) character in a bunch of formulas in Excel 2007. However, because parentheses are special wildcard characters in their own right, you need to tell Word to treat them as normal text characters and not as special characters, so you put in a backslash Learn more about applying criteria to a query. Users can also use wildcards in conjunction with filters to get more specific search results. Excel Wildcard Symbols A wildcard is a special character that can be substituted for characters when filtering or looking up data. May 18, 2023 · With the Find and Replace feature in Excel, you can look for specific characters, and replace them with different characters, or replace them with nothing. Mar 14, 2023 · You can also use an asterisk as a wild card to match characters in an Excel worksheet. You can use wildcard characters, such as an asterisk () or a question mark (?), in your search criteria: Use the asterisk to find any string of characters. In this method, we will use the wildcard characters to find and replace a string. Nov 17, 2025 · In conclusion, the Find and Replace feature in Excel, particularly when augmented by wildcard characters, is a fundamental tool for streamlined data manipulation. Wildcard characters are all about searching a text with a partial match. You can also use wildcard characters to extract the first word in Excel. Mar 7, 2022 · You can find and replace in Word using the Find and Replace dialog box as well as the Navigation Pane. In the last article, we covered the basics of the Excel Find and Replace dialog. This article teaches you how to use Find and Replace in Excel like a pro. The asterisk (*) is the most versatile of all. The post Excel Find and Replace Using Wildcards: Guide + Examples appeared first on Master Data Skills + AI. While basic find-and-replace functions serve well for straightforward tasks, more advanced scenarios often require the use of wildcards — special characters Use the Find and Replace features in Excel to search for something in your workbook, such as a particular number or text string. Lets look at the following range of cells in Excel: By using an Asterix wildcard in our VBA code, we can find all the Firstnames that begin with “M” and change the color of the text to red. Oct 19, 2019 · You can't use wildcards in the Replace box, but you could use a formula in another column, to add the pipe. Mar 14, 2023 · Everything you need to know about wildcards on one page: what they are, how to best use them in Excel, and why wildcards are not working with numbers. This tip covers some other ways you can meet your needs. So today, we will answer a few questions and discuss a few points focusing on whether we can use Find and Replace with a wildcard in Google Sheets. Once you learn how to use them, you’ll find that they fit naturally into features like filters, the Find and Replace tool, and formulas using COUNTIF, VLOOKUP, SEARCH, and other smart Excel conditional functions. Whether you need to find and change Excel entries across multiple sheets, correct formatting issues, or even replace * in Excel (yes, wildcards work!), we’ll cover practical steps to save you time and frustration. Find and replace in Word Working with documents or spreadsheets on your computer or laptop, you can instantly find and edit text and data without manually combing through printed or handwritten pages. Master wildcard usage in the Find and Replace feature to quickly modify data patterns, saving time and enhancing data management. When you use it in a search or a formula, Excel interprets it as "match any number of characters here. For example, if you are looking for a string with known ending or beginning, and unknown characters in the middle, you can use wildcard characters to tell Excel to look for all compatible matches. Excel, like most common applications, supports Find and Replace functionality. See how to use wildcard characters in search criterial, find cells with formulas or specified formatting and more. Also, you may want to look for a specific item in an Excel workbook whether that’s a company stock inventory, pricing booklet, or academic syllabus Using wildcard characters in Excel find and replace is useful to correct data and make the data set consistent throughout the database. However, you cannot use them in the replacement text. You could also retrieve the full email address by using the find string “*<” And again using find and replace “>” to get rid of the “>” at the end. For example, when your spreadsheet contains multiple products that start with the letter “A,” you can use wildcard characters to identify products meeting specific criteria. It stands in for any number of characters even none at all! This makes it perfect for finding and cleaning data that doesn’t fit neatly into a pattern. One Character A single question mark (?) matches exactly one (any) character. When you use the Find and Replace dialog box to find or replace a character such as a tilde (~), an asterisk (*), or a question mark (?), you must add a tilde (~) before the character in the Find what box. May 9, 2023 · There are three main types of wildcards in Excel: the asterisk wildcard (*), the question mark wildcard (?), and the tilde escape character (~). Here's how to use these characters in filters, searches, and formulas. These can also be used in the Conditional Formatting rules that use the "Only format cells that contain specific text" criteria. It is very easy to do so! Mar 22, 2022 · You could then do a find and replace on the “>” character to remove the “>” at the end to complete the process. Master Find and Replace in Excel with wildcards, advanced search options, and bulk data modification techniques. g. By utilizing wildcards in Replace With Text in Excel, users can quickly and accurately manipulate large amounts of data with ease and precision. Learn how to efficiently locate and swap specific text patterns, empowering you to manage large datasets with ease and precision. May 9, 2023 · How to Search for Wildcards in Excel: Searching for wildcards in Excel is easy by using the Find and Replace tool. Here is a As well as using wildcards in Excel's Find And Replace dialog box, you can use them in arguments for various functions, such as XLOOKUP to generate a partial match lookup, COUNTIFS to count the May 12, 2025 · Using Wildcards in Searches One of the most common uses of wildcards in Microsoft Excel is to find characters in a workbook and, if needed, replace them with alternatives. For more about using wildcard characters with the Find and Replace features in Excel, see Find or replace text and numbers on a worksheet. How to Use Wildcards in Excel: A Comprehensive Guide for All Users Excel is a powerful tool widely used across industries for data analysis, management, and reporting. Oct 15, 2006 · Hello forum, There is a long column of text. Example: Potato Apple Lettuce Broccoli Banana Celery Search: * Replace Nov 25, 2024 · Master Excel's find and replace wildcards to efficiently search and manipulate data using asterisks, question marks, and other special characters, streamlining workflows with regex patterns and advanced filtering techniques. I then need to add a text string after the content found. In many situations, however, you may want Excel to find and extract data from other cells automatically based on your criteria. If you use the dialog box, you can find and replace text and numbers and use wildcards for more advanced find and replace tasks. Often you want to locate a value or text string on your Excel worksheet for data analysis and visualization purposes. ? Mar 21, 2023 · The tutorial explains the syntax of the Excel FIND and SEARCH functions and provides formula examples of advanced non-trivial uses. Here is an example Find 52881871-fsa Replace 52881851-fsa I Oct 11, 2024 · Learn how to replace tilde (~) used as a wildcard in Excel with Find and Replace for efficient data manipulation. There are three Excel wildcard characters (asterisk, question mark, and tilde) that can get some amazing stuff done in Excel. While Excel doesn't support full regex functionality, you can use wildcards with creative formula structuring (functions like SEARCH(), TEXT(), and ISNUMBER()). Here's my entire playlist of Excel tutorials: http://bit. Sep 19, 2023 · So, whether you're a beginner or an advanced Excel user, this guide is sure to offer some valuable insights and tips to help you become more proficient in using wildcards in Excel's Find and Replace function. Examples of wildcard character pattern matching in expressions To use a wildcard character within a pattern: Open your query in Design view. Feb 1, 2019 · Is there any way to use wild cards in the replace part of Excel's Find and Replace function? Alternatively, is there another way I can take a series of different existing formulas and replace them with another formula based on the original formula? Excel has 3 wildcards. " For example, if you use the Find tool (Ctrl + F) and search for Ch*, Excel Sep 22, 2025 · This effortless Microsoft Excel tutorial shall explain how to find and replace in Excel with different situations and use cases. Save time and avoid losing data with this helpful tutorial. Aug 19, 2021 · Using the Asterix (*) Wildcard in VBA The Asterix wildcard replaces one or more characters in a VBA string. There are two wildcard characters you can use in Find and Replace. In Excel, there are three types of wildcard characters. For example, you can enter T* into the Find and Replace tool to locate all the texts in the database that starts with the character T. Aug 15, 2024 · In this article, i have demonstrated two methods including Find and Replace & Filter option in excel find * character not wildcard. Hold the "Ctrl" key and press "H" to open the "Find and Replace" window. Jan 22, 2025 · When doing searches in Excel, you can use wildcard characters in the specification of what you are searching. May 13, 2019 · How to use the Find and Replace functionality in Microsoft Word. Download our practice workbook for free, and exercise! Mar 14, 2023 · The tutorial shows how to make Excel IF statement with wildcard text and get it to work for partial matches. Jul 6, 2024 · In this article, you will learn about how to Find and Replace data in Excel using the Find and Replace tool, functions, shortcuts etc. Find & Replace with Wildcard characters (but controlled by VBA)? ^& doesn't work for some reason. In this guide, we're going to show you how to use Wildcard criteria in Excel formulas. com Nov 18, 2025 · This comprehensive guide will walk you through the basics of wildcards in Excel, how to use them effectively in find-and-replace operations, practical scenarios, tips, and troubleshooting advice. zhwhxcxgharcexoaijblofdxaunwpdxisicodpovohqansgdotrznrktdxhetqjqzi