To perform full‑text searching, use Edit > Find (F3).
Enter the search text in the Find field of the Find & Replace toolbar.
Click Options to choose whether the search text is treated as a regular expression or as plain text.
Selecting a range limits searching and replacing to that range.
Clicking any cell cancels the active range and searching resumes across the entire worksheet.
Changing search/replace options or text strings starts a new search.
2. What Is Searched
Text and numeric cells — their unformatted contents.
Formulas — the formula text itself.
3. Search Modes
3.1 Regular Expressions
The Find string is interpreted as a regular expression. Examples:
abc
Cells containing “abc”
.bc
Any character followed by “bc”
\Aabc
Starts with “abc”
abc\z
Ends with “abc”
\Aabc.*123\z
Starts with “abc”, ends with “123”
abc\d\z
Ends with “abc” + digit
^a\d+
Line starting with “a” + digits
^a\d*
Line starting with “a” + optional digits
a\d*$
Line ending with “a” + optional digits
[ab]+c
“abc”, “aabc”, “abbabc”… but not “c” alone
[ab]*c
Same as above, including “c”
[^ab]+c
Ends with “c”, contains no “a” or “b”
\w\d{2,3}
Letter + 2–3 digits
^ab\d{2,3}c
Starts with “ab”, 2–3 digits, “c”
abc|xyz
Contains “abc” or “xyz”
(?=.*abc)(?=.*xyz)
Contains both “abc” and “xyz”
\A\z
Empty cells
Additional options:
Allow empty matches
Match case
Empty matches occur for patterns like a? or \A\z, allowing searches for empty cells within data blocks.
