# complex word search in MS-Word
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complex-word-search-in-ms-word/286850
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 27, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complex-word-search-in-ms-word/286850 "2005-01-27T01:17:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complex-word-search-in-ms-word/286850/1 "2005-01-27T01:17:45Z")
brief version : How do I find a word immediately followed by a carriage return?
more detailred version:
I have a text file in the following format:
a single word then a colon then a list of words like this
> [@](#):
>
> abandon:abandonment,abjection,abjure,abort,deep-six,degeneracy,desert,desist
> abbreviation:abridgment,abstract,apocope,aposiopesis,astriction,astringency,blue-penciling
> abdicate:abandon,abjure,cashier,cast,cease,cede,demit,drop,forgo,forswear,jettison,leave,quit,reject,relinquish,renounce,resign
> abeyance:abandonment,abjuration,abjurement,apathy,break,caesura,catalepsy,catatonia,cease-fire,cessation,deadliness
> abandoned:cast-off,castaway,ceded,committed,contaminated,corrupt
What I want to do is find any word containing one or more hyphen.
The search string \*\*[,:][a-z]@-\*, \*\* almost works. It finds **deep-six** and **cast-off** fine.
However if a hyphenated word comes at the end of a line, it will wrap around to the first comma on the next line. In the above example it will highlight **blue-penciling
abdicate:abandon,**
How do I modify my search string so that it stops at carriage return?
note : I thought that the Manual Line Break character would work, but it didn’t.
The End Of Word character fails on multi hyphenated words like **dyed-in-the-wool**. It only highlights **dyed-in.**
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### Author:  [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complex-word-search-in-ms-word/286850/2 "2005-01-27T02:00:40Z")
Try “^p”. Word treats a manual carraige return as a “paragraph mark”
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complex-word-search-in-ms-word/286850/3 "2005-01-27T02:17:06Z")
Sadly, it doesn’t work when using wildcards.
Are there any other codes you know? Is there a code for the start of a line? One for end of document? Other things like that?
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### Author:  [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complex-word-search-in-ms-word/286850/4 "2005-01-27T03:13:50Z")
Lame. Sorry, that’s all I have.