^p - other codes? (2000 SR1)

[musab]

Hi,

In the Search & Replace Dialogue Box, ^p represents a paragraph mark.
It's useful when trying to improve the layout of text which often becomes like a dog's breakfast when for e.g. pasted from an email.

Where can I get a complete list of these useful doo-daas, i.e. apart from ^p -what else is on offer?

Thanks,

m.q.

[BerylM]

In Search and replace, press 'More', then 'Special', a list of the characters you can use this way comes up; choose one and it'll put the character in. Leastways that's what happens in Word97 - I presume Word2k is similar.

The ones I use most are ^l (small el) for line break (soft return) and ^t for tab, apart from the ^p you already know about.

[BAM]

Hi Musab,

Here's an article from the MS Word MVP site that may provide more information to you on useful 'doo-daas' <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/FindingSpecialCharacters.htm>http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/Find...lCharacters.htm</A>
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Cheers! <img src=/S/flags/USA.gif border=0 alt=USA width=30 height=18>

[BAM]

Please forgive my "pickyness" <img src=/S/angel.gif border=0 alt=angel width=15 height=21> <img src=/S/laugh.gif border=0 alt=laugh width=15 height=15> I've noticed "Soft Return" used in this forum before and just "feel the need" to pass along a small tidbit of information.

FWIW, a "Soft Return" is a WP code for what happens normally at the end of a line during word wrap. Pressing <Enter> is called a "Hard Return".

Pressing <Shift Enter> is a manual line break for which there is not a WP equivalent (well... at least there never used to be... <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15> )
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[BerylM]

Guilty as charged - I'm an ex-wordperfect user! In fact I still use it occasionally when I can't be bothered to convert a particularly complicated WP document into Word ...

However, as far as I can see, the two terms are merely the individual programs' ways of referring to the same/similar thing, at least insofar as the effect they have is concerned.

Does anyone know the exact definitions of these two items? Are they the same in everything but name?

[BAM]

No, <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15> they are not even close to being the same.

A manual line break is always in effect, a soft return is controlled by the application.

Taken from <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ed_asi490/Glossary/cgw.htm> Microcomputer Glossary</A>

Soft Return: A control code utilized by software to end a line at the right margin. It is placed in the text when word wrap occurs. When text is reformatted, for example, by changing margins, soft returns are removed, then recreated at the appropriate locations.

Also note the definition of a Soft Return in this article: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q72/2/92.ASP> WD: How Word Converts WordPerfect 5.x/6.x Hard and Soft Returns</A>

As an example of how a manual line break is interpreted during conversion, try this:

- Create a new document
- Type =Rand(4,6) and press <Enter>
- Add a couple of Manual Line Breaks <Shift Enter> at various places.
- Save the file as Text Only
- Close and open the file in the Notepad.

Those lines with manual line breaks are converted to paragraph marks. The lines that were word wrapped (soft return) do not break.

[BerylM]

Well, there you go. You learn something new every day! <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[BAM]

'tis the beauty of the groups: "Share what you know and learn what you don't" <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

If I didn't learn something new everyday - I wouldn't hang around these parts. <img src=/S/laugh.gif border=0 alt=laugh width=15 height=15>
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Cheers! <img src=/S/flags/USA.gif border=0 alt=USA width=30 height=18>