While you can simply enter a word as you would in any dictionary search, the tool will list the shorthand outlines for that word along with any words that contain the search string.
By inserting special characters into your search string, you create a Regular expressions that matches words that you want to display. While they might sound complex, you don't need to worry about the technical details. Here's what you need to know:
To help you create regular expressions, buttons are available that insert regular expression characters into your search word. Instead of typing the characters, you can click the buttons to add them to your search pattern.
Here are the available buttons and their functions:
Clicking these buttons will insert the corresponding character at the cursor position or at the end of the text if no cursor position is selected.
The program not only finds exact matches but also finds words and their corresponding outlines that contain the word you Inserted.
The search pattern may return many results. By default, only the first 100 matches are displayed.
You can increase the number of matches shown by increasing the number next to the search input box.
Insert ^
before your word and insert $
after your word. For example, ^to$
will find only the word "to", and none of the other words containing it.
Insert ^
before your word. For example, ^pre
will find words that begin with pre
like "prefix", "prelude", and "prevent".
Insert $
after your word. For example, ing$
will find words that end with ing
like "anything", "awning", and "bedspring".
Separate the patterns with |
. dog$|^rat$
will find the words "dog", "watchdog", "cat", and "rat".
Regular expressions are a powerful tool used to represent patterns in text. They allow us to search for words in a flexible and efficient way. For example, if you enter a word or part of a word, the program will find all words that match that pattern. For shorthand writers, this feature is particularly valuable because it helps you:
Since you have learned shorthand, in which you represent word patterns using symbols, the concept of regular expressions should be easy to grasp. Regular expressions use the regular alphabet and can represent categories of characters by embedding special symbols:
.
to match any single character.b.d
will match words containing "bad", "bid", "bud".[ ]
to match any character listed in the brackets.p[aeiouy]t
will match words containing the pattern. For example "pattern", "pet", "carpet", "pit", "despite"[^ ]
to match any character not listed.p[^aeiouy]t
will match words like "diphtheria", "slapstick"*
to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding character.^pea.*$
will match "pea" followed by 0 or more characters: "pea", "peak", "peace", "peanut", "peasant, "peaceable", "peacemaker" ...+
to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding character.^pea.+$
will match "pea" followed by 1 or more characters: "pea", "peak", "peace", "peanut", "peasant, "peaceable", "peacemaker" ...?
to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding character.pea.?
will match "pea", "prefix", "preempt".+
to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding character.pea.?
will match "pea", "prefix", "preempt".{ }
to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding character.^pea.{2}$
will match pea followed by exactly 2 characters: "peace"^pea.{3,4}$
will match "pea" followed by 3 to 4 charactors: "peanut","peasant"^pea.{0,3}$
will match "pea" followed by 0 to 3 characters: "pea", "peak", "peace", "peanut"^pea.{6,}$
will match "pea" followed by 6 or more characters: "peaceable", "peacemaker"( )
to apply repetition.(er){2,}
will match words where "er" occurs at least 2 times in succession. ie. "discoverer" and supererogation.^single$|^double$
will match "single", "double".Don't worry if these special tricks seem confusing at first. You can always just Insert in regular words, and the program will still help you find what you're looking for!
If you like using regular expressions but need help, describe the search to AI assistant such as ChatGPt and let it create a regular expression for your search. Happy word hunting!