Word macro needed ~ multiple search and replace (Word 2003)

[bigpaul]

I'm hoping someone has a code snippet to search and replace multiple words in an existing document (so we cannot use auto correct as we go).

Ideally to look up the replace list written in a separate Word (or Excel) document (so it is easily maintainable).

e.g.

Source
users {users|members|clientele|web masters|organisations}
maintain {maintain|cherish|foster|preserve|safeguard|tend|w atch}
own {private|personal|confidential|own}
web {sites|webs|pages}

Original

So this allows users to maintain their own web.

Replacement

So this allows {users|members|clientele|Web masters|organisations} to {maintain|cherish|foster|preserve|safeguard|tend|w atch} their {private|personal|confidential|own} {sites|webs|pages}.

A total ideal (probably impossible) would be to maintain case i.e.

Users returns {Users|Members|Clientele|Web Masters|Organisations}
user returns {users|members|clientele|web masters|organisations}

[HansV]

Welcome to Woody's Lounge!

The attached zip file contains two files:
- A text file Code.txt with the text of a macro.
- An Excel workbook Replacements.xls with the words to replace in column A and their replacements in column B.

You can copy the code from the text file into a module. You'll have to modify the constant

Const strXLFile = "H:ExcelReplacements.xls"

so that it points to the folder into which you unzipped the workbook.

Important: you must be very careful with the sort order of the list of words and replacements. for example, you want to replace "users" with a list in which the word "web" occurs, and you also want to replace the word "web" with a list of words. If "web" comes after "users" in the worksheet, you'll get unintended results: "users" will be replaced with "{users|members|clientele|{sites|webs|pages} masters|organisations}". So "users" should come *after* "web" in the worksheet.

If a word is in ALL CAPS, the replacement will be in ALL CAPS too, but the macro doesn't preserve Proper Case, that would probably require a lot more work.

[bigpaul]

WOW! So fast!! I am so impressed. I'll download and test ~ thank you very much. Paul

[bigpaul]

OK, I've tested and it all works well. Your point about the order is well made however I've changed the spreadsheet to be
<space> first word <space> and <space> replacement text <space>
eg [ own ] and [ {private|personal|confidential|own} ]
Therefore nothing in the replacement text matches the search terms (because there are no spaces in there).

Thanks for this, it is EXACTLY what I wanted.
Regards Paul

[HansV]

> I've changed the spreadsheet to be <space> first word <space> and <space> replacement text <space>

That's a good workaround. Glad to have been able to help.

[bigpaul]

HansV, I submit the above to an online program which converts the part in {} into an article. i.e.

So this allows {users|members|clientele|Web masters|organisations} to {maintain|cherish|foster|preserve|safeguard|tend|w atch} their {private|personal|confidential|own} {sites|webs|pages}.

Could be: So this allows members to watch their personal sites. So this allows users to preserve their personal pages.

It would be handy to do this function within Word and avoid going online ~ i.e. keep the original (with full braces) and generate a 2nd document with the decoded text. There will be dozens of braces to a document, some containing two terms, some containing multiple terms. The criteria is to be totally random ~ i.e. rerun the macro and get a totally different decoded document (some words may be the same, especially if there is only a choice of two, but the sentence as a whole will be random).

Regards Paul

[HansV]

Instead of first replacing words with bracketed lists, for example users > {users|members|clientele|Web masters|organisations}, and then replacing the bracketed list with a randomly selected item from it, it might be more efficient to replace each of the specified words with a random item from the corresponding list directly, for example users > clientele.

Would that work for you, or do you prefer to keep the two steps?

[bigpaul]

It would work as one step ~ I had not even thought of doing it that way !!
It would still be good to keep a copy of the original document and generate a 2nd version though.
Your very quick at responding!

Regards Paul

[HansV]

The attached text file contains a modified macro that will copy the contents of the active document to a new document and replace the keywords with entries randomly selected from the corresponding list in the Excel workbook.

[bigpaul]

Thanks Hans,

You can write code faster than I can type :-)

It's not quite there ~ the strings are concatinated and at least one } is visible, however you have given me enough to build on.

So this allows users to maintain their own web.

So this allowsmemberstopreservetheirown web.
So this allowsclienteletowatch}theirown web.
So this allowsclienteletosafeguardtheirown web.
So this allowsclienteletosafeguardtheirown web.

Very many thanks Paul

[HansV]

You'll have to fine tune the code for your situation. I wrote the code for the sample workbook that I attached higher up in this thread, where the entries in column A and B don't have spaces before and after them.

[bigpaul]

Just to close the thread ~ I've now got two working macros that do all I need ~ thanks Hans, I would not have reached this stage without your assistance.