Localizing numbers with Word’s Find and Replace
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January 13, 2009 |
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Captain’s Log, star date 4135.5. Commander Worf has developed a rather unpleasant rash on his forehead and the replicators are acting up again.
Translating the above sentence is simple enough. Let’s assume for a moment that it belongs to in-game text for a new Star Trek game with many, many “star dates.” In German and other languages, a comma is used instead of a period: 4135,5. It is easy to miss those and even easier to let Word to (most of the) work.
- Open the find and replace window (Ctrl-H)
- Insert ([0-9]).([0-9]) in the Find what text box
- Insert \1,\2 in the Replace with text box
- Click More
- Check Use Wildcards
With this search, Word will only look for periods in between two numbers, so don’t worry about all the punctuation marks in the text. You can replace every period with a comma individually (recommended) or click Replace All.
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This was very helpful, thank you.
Thank you!