VBA to replace hyphens with en dashes

[menteith]

Hi all,

I'd like to create a macro in Word (I use 2016) which replaces hyphenes with en-dashes ("a longer hyphen"). I think when I paste a hyphen in this forum I automatically becomes an dash. Wikipedia has a nice article on hyphens and dashes.


Here's my code (recorded and edited my me):

Sub plusminus()
With Selection.Find
    .Text = " - " ' it should be hyphen here but VBA editor and this forum changes it to a dash
    .Replacement.Text = " – " ' en dash is here
    .Forward = True
    .Wrap = wdFindContinue
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

When I try to copy and paste a hyphen to VBA editor I always get en dash. If I try to press a hyphen key on my keyboard I always get en dash. In consequence, the macro won't work. How do I replace hyphens en dashes using VBA?

Thanks!

[Paul_Hossler]

1. There is a setting (in 2016, maybe earlier) that does that while you type


Capture.JPG




2. On the Find/Replace dialog, there is a [Special] button that has that plus others. Click [More>>] to see it


Capture2.JPG


3. Recording a macro and using the [Special] button, you get a good starting point

Option Explicit
Sub Macro2()
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = " - "
        .Replacement.Text = " ^= "
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

4. You can also use

Replacement.Text = " " & Chr(150) & " "

for an en-dash, or 151 for an em-dash

[menteith]

Many thanks! It seems that my character to be replaced is not a hyphen, that is, Chr(45) but something else. I ran you macro and apparently no modifications were made. Could you please take a look at my word document, please? A symbol I need to replace is in yellow on the first page.plusminus.docx

[Paul_Hossler]

Capture.JPG

If you put the insertion point after the yellow character and hit Alt-x you can see the character's code in hex (2013). Alt-x to toggle back

2013 is the Unicode en-dash, which is slightly different from the hyphen (pink) hex 002D below



Capture1.JPG


If you want a longer dash, you can replace the en-dash (hex 2013) with an em-dash (hex 2014)

Option Explicit

Sub Macro2()
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = " " & ChrW(&H2013) & " "
        .Replacement.Text = " " & ChrW(&H2014) & " "
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

[menteith]

Dear Paul_Hossler,

Many thanks. I would have never guessed it on my own. And the trick with alt-x is perfect! I really appreciate your answer.

[gmaxey]

Paul/mentieth,

You can use the VBA Replace function to reduce that macro to one line of code:

Sub ScratchMacro()
ActiveDocument.Range.Text = Replace(ActiveDocument.Range.Text, ChrW(&H2013), ChrW(&H2014)")
End Sub

[menteith]

gmaxey,

Very nice, thanks!