Find Text strings containing "_" - vba

Question

I am looking the for the correct syntax to use a text function to find strings that contain underscores. I have a very large document that has numerous tables names with underscores. They are in the format abc_def or abc_def_ghi or abc_def_ghi_jkl etc.
I have tried various combinations and cannot get anything to work as I expect it to. Below is my latest iteration.
Sub ExtractTablesToNewDocument()
'=========================
'Macro created 2008 by Lene Fredborg, DocTools - www.thedoctools.com
'THIS MACRO IS COPYRIGHT. YOU ARE WELCOME TO USE THE MACRO BUT YOU MUST KEEP THE LINE ABOVE.
'YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PUBLISH THE MACRO AS YOUR OWN, IN WHOLE OR IN PART.
'=========================
'The macro creates a new document,
'finds all words consisting of 3 or more uppercase letters
'in the active document and inserts the words
'in column 1 of a 3-column table in the new document
'Each acronym is added only once
'Use column 2 for definitions
'Page number of first occurrence is added by the macro in column 3
'Minor adjustments are made to the styles used
'You may need to change the style settings and table layout to fit your needs
'=========================
Dim oDoc_Source As Document
Dim oDoc_Target As Document
Dim strListSep As String
Dim strAcronym As String
Dim oTable As Table
Dim oRange As Range
Dim n As Long
Dim strAllFound As String
Dim Title As String
Dim Msg As String
Title = "Extract Acronyms to New Document"
'Show msg - stop if user does not click Yes
Msg = "This macro finds all words consisting of 3 or more " & _
"uppercase letters and extracts the words to a table " & _
"in a new document where you can add definitions." & vbCr & vbCr & _
"Do you want to continue?"
If MsgBox(Msg, vbYesNo + vbQuestion, Title) <> vbYes Then
Exit Sub
End If
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'Find the list separator from international settings
'May be a comma or semicolon depending on the country
strListSep = Application.International(wdListSeparator)
'Start a string to be used for storing names of acronyms found
strAllFound = "#"
Set oDoc_Source = ActiveDocument
'Create new document for acronyms
Set oDoc_Target = Documents.Add
With oDoc_Target
'Make sure document is empty
.Range = ""
'Insert info in header - change date format as you wish
.PageSetup.TopMargin = CentimetersToPoints(3)
.Sections(1).Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Text = _
"Acronyms extracted from: " & oDoc_Source.FullName & vbCr & _
"Created by: " & Application.UserName & vbCr & _
"Creation date: " & Format(Date, "MMMM d, yyyy")
'Adjust the Normal style and Header style
With .Styles(wdStyleNormal)
.Font.Name = "Arial"
.Font.Size = 10
.ParagraphFormat.LeftIndent = 0
.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = 6
End With
With .Styles(wdStyleHeader)
.Font.Size = 8
.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = 0
End With
'Insert a table with room for acronym and definition
Set oTable = .Tables.Add(Range:=.Range, NumRows:=2, NumColumns:=3)
With oTable
'Format the table a bit
'Insert headings
.Range.Style = wdStyleNormal
.AllowAutoFit = False
.Cell(1, 1).Range.Text = "Acronym"
.Cell(1, 2).Range.Text = "Definition"
.Cell(1, 3).Range.Text = "Page"
'Set row as heading row
.Rows(1).HeadingFormat = True
.Rows(1).Range.Font.Bold = True
.PreferredWidthType = wdPreferredWidthPercent
.Columns(1).PreferredWidth = 20
.Columns(2).PreferredWidth = 70
.Columns(3).PreferredWidth = 10
End With
End With
With oDoc_Source
Set oRange = .Range
n = 1 'used to count below
With oRange.Find
'Use wildcard search to find strings consisting of 3 or more uppercase letters
'Set the search conditions
'NOTE: If you want to find acronyms with e.g. 2 or more letters,
'change 3 to 2 in the line below
.Text = "<*>[_]<*>"
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWildcards = True
'Perform the search
Do While .Execute
'Continue while found
strAcronym = oRange
'Insert in target doc
'If strAcronym is already in strAllFound, do not add again
If InStr(1, strAllFound, "#" & strAcronym & "#") = 0 Then
'Add new row in table from second acronym
If n > 1 Then oTable.Rows.Add
'Was not found before
strAllFound = strAllFound & strAcronym & "#"
'Insert in column 1 in oTable
'Compensate for heading row
With oTable
.Cell(n + 1, 1).Range.Text = strAcronym
'Insert page number in column 3
.Cell(n + 1, 3).Range.Text = oRange.Information(wdActiveEndPageNumber)
End With
n = n + 1
End If
Loop
End With
End With
'Sort the acronyms alphabetically - skip if only 1 found
If n > 2 Then
With Selection
.Sort ExcludeHeader:=True, FieldNumber:="Column 1", SortFieldType _
:=wdSortFieldAlphanumeric, SortOrder:=wdSortOrderAscending
'Go to start of document
.HomeKey (wdStory)
End With
End If
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
'If no acronyms found, show msg and close new document without saving
'Else keep open
If n = 1 Then
Msg = "No acronyms found."
oDoc_Target.Close savechanges:=wdDoNotSaveChanges
Else
Msg = "Finished extracting " & n - 1 & " acronymn(s) to a new document."
End If
MsgBox Msg, vbOKOnly, Title
'Clean up
Set oRange = Nothing
Set oDoc_Source = Nothing
Set oDoc_Target = Nothing
Set oTable = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 1

Try:
.Text = "[! ]#_[! ]{1,}"
This will find strings containing however many underscores there might be, including where those strings start or end with an underscore.

Answer 2

Try:
Sub AcronymLister()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim StrTmp As String, StrAcronyms As String, i As Long, j As Long, k As Long, Rng As Range, Tbl As Table
StrAcronyms = "Acronym" & vbTab & "Page" & vbCr
With ActiveDocument
With .Range
With .Find
.ClearFormatting
.Replacement.ClearFormatting
.MatchWildcards = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Text = "[! ^13^t^11]#_[! ^13^t^11]{1,}"
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Execute
End With
Do While .Find.Found = True
If InStr(1, StrAcronyms, .Text, vbBinaryCompare) = 0 Then
StrAcronyms = StrAcronyms & .Text & vbTab & .Information(wdActiveEndAdjustedPageNumber) & vbCr
End If
If Len(.Text) = 0 Then .End = .Paragraphs(1).Range.Next.Start
.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
.Find.Execute
Loop
End With
With .Range
Set Rng = .Characters.Last
With Rng
If .Characters.First.Previous <> vbCr Then .InsertAfter vbCr
.InsertAfter Chr(12)
.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
.Style = "Normal"
.Text = StrAcronyms
Set Tbl = .ConvertToTable(Separator:=vbTab, NumRows:=.Paragraphs.Count, NumColumns:=2)
With Tbl
.Columns.AutoFit
.Rows(1).HeadingFormat = True
.Rows(1).Range.Style = "Strong"
.Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
End With
.Collapse wdCollapseStart
End With
End With
End With
Set Rng = Nothing: Set Tbl = Nothing
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Note: The above code puts the acronym table at the end of the current document. I've modified the Find expression to exclude tabs, paragraph breaks & line breaks.

Answer 3

Sub AcronymLister()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim StrTmp As String, StrAcronyms As String, i As Long, j As Long, k As Long, Rng As Range, Tbl As Table
StrAcronyms = "Acronym" & vbTab & "Page" & vbCr
With ActiveDocument
With .Range
With .Find
.ClearFormatting
.Replacement.ClearFormatting
.MatchWildcards = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Text = "[! ^13^t^11]#_[! ^13^t^11]{1,}"
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Execute
End With
Do While .Find.Found = True
If InStr(.Text, "_") = 0 Then
If InStr(1, StrAcronyms, .Text, vbBinaryCompare) = 0 Then
StrAcronyms = StrAcronyms & .Text & vbTab & .Information(wdActiveEndAdjustedPageNumber) & vbCr
Else
.End = .Paragraphs(1).Range.Next.Start
End If
End If
If InStr(.Text, "_") > 0 Then
If InStr(1, StrAcronyms, .Text, vbBinaryCompare) = 0 Then
StrAcronyms = StrAcronyms & .Text & vbTab & .Information(wdActiveEndAdjustedPageNumber) & vbCr
Else
.End = .Paragraphs(1).Range.Next.Start
End If
End If
.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
.Find.Execute
Loop
End With
With .Range
Set Rng = .Characters.Last
With Rng
If .Characters.First.Previous <> vbCr Then .InsertAfter vbCr
.InsertAfter Chr(12)
.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
.Style = "Normal"
.Text = StrAcronyms
Set Tbl = .ConvertToTable(Separator:=vbTab, NumRows:=.Paragraphs.Count, NumColumns:=2)
With Tbl
.Columns.AutoFit
.Rows(1).HeadingFormat = True
.Rows(1).Range.Style = "Strong"
.Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
End With
.Collapse wdCollapseStart
End With
End With
End With
Set Rng = Nothing: Set Tbl = Nothing
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
#macropod i added a loop to handle zero length strings and the code appears to be working. I know this is not the most efficient method, do you have any suggestions for improvement? Thank you again for walking me through this i really appreciate all your help and knowledge.