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Regular Expressions in PowerPoint
The first example shows how to find and replace a number with commas (European decimal) with a number with a period (UK / USA decimal.
The second example shows how to find and list consecutive CAPITAL letters with optional periods. i.e abbreviations.
Example 1
Working in Europe we often get presentations using the , as a decimal separator 234.72 for example. For UK or US use this needs to be changed to 234.72.
In Word this is possible using the advanced search options available which are based on Regular Expressions but PowerPoint only has a basic Search and replace function. Searching for commas and replacing with full stops (periods) will of course change ALL commas not just those in number.
You could create a complex macro to find strings which are numeric and only do the replace there but it would be time consuming.
Here's How to Use regX in PowerPoint
Sub use_regex()
Dim regX As Object
Dim osld As Slide
Dim oshp As Shape
Dim strInput As String
Dim b_found As Boolean
Dim iRow As Integer
Dim iCol As Integer
Set regX = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With regX
.Global = True
.Pattern = "(\d+)\,(\d+)"
End With
For Each osld In ActivePresentation.Slides
For Each oshp In osld.Shapes
If oshp.HasTable Then
For iRow = 1 To oshp.Table.Rows.Count
For iCol = 1 To oshp.Table.Columns.Count
strInput = oshp.Table.Cell(iRow, iCol).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text
b_found = regX.Test(strInput)
If b_found = True Then
strInput = regX.Replace(strInput, "$1.$2")
oshp.Table.Cell(iRow, iCol).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange = strInput
End If
Next iCol
Next iRow
Else
If oshp.HasTextFrame Then
If oshp.TextFrame.HasText Then
strInput = oshp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text
b_found = regX.Test(strInput)
If b_found = True Then
strInput = regX.Replace(strInput, "$1.$2")
oshp.TextFrame.TextRange = strInput
End If
End If
End If
End If
Next oshp
Next osld
Set regX = Nothing
End Sub
This second example searchs for consecutive CAPITALS with or without periods (i.e. abbreviations).
The result is opened as a printable text file.
Sub use_regexABB() Dim regX As Object Dim oMatch As Object Dim osld As Slide Dim oshp As Shape Dim strInput As String Dim b_found As Boolean Dim strReport As String Dim iRow As Integer Dim iCol As Integer Dim i As Integer Dim GI As Long Dim iFileNum As Integer Dim b_First As Boolean Dim b_start As Boolean Dim strpattern As String strpattern = "\b[A-Z(.\d)?]{2,}\b" 'CAPS with optional . or digit On Error Resume Next Set regX = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp") With regX .Global = True .Pattern = strpattern End With For Each osld In ActivePresentation.Slides For Each oshp In osld.Shapes Select Case oshp.Type Case Is = 14 If oshp.HasTable Then For iRow = 1 To oshp.Table.Rows.Count For iCol = 1 To oshp.Table.Columns.Count strInput = oshp.Table.Cell(iRow, iCol).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text b_found = regX.Test(strInput) If b_found = True Then If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox strpattern & " is not a recognised RegEx pattern." Exit Sub End If If Not b_start Then b_start = True strReport = strReport & "Results" & vbCrLf End If If Not b_First And b_start Then strReport = strReport & vbCrLf & "In Table on Slide " & osld.SlideIndex & ": " b_First = True Else End If Set oMatch = regX.Execute(strInput) For i = 0 To oMatch.Count - 1 strReport = strReport & oMatch(i) & " / " Next i End If Next iCol Next iRow End If If oshp.HasTextFrame And Not oshp.HasTable Then If oshp.TextFrame.HasText Then strInput = oshp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text b_found = regX.Test(strInput) If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox strpattern & " is not a recognised RegEx pattern." Exit Sub End If If b_found = True Then If Not b_start Then b_start = True strReport = strReport & "Results" & vbCrLf End If If Not b_First And b_start Then strReport = strReport & vbCrLf & "In Placeholder on Slide " & osld.SlideIndex & ": " b_First = True Else End If Set oMatch = regX.Execute(strInput) For i = 0 To oMatch.Count - 1 strReport = strReport & oMatch(i) & " / " Next i End If End If End If Case Is = msoSmartArt For GI = 1 To oshp.GroupItems.Count If oshp.GroupItems(GI).HasTextFrame Then If oshp.GroupItems(GI).TextFrame2.HasText Then strInput = oshp.GroupItems(GI).TextFrame2.TextRange.Text b_found = regX.Test(strInput) If b_found = True Then If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox strpattern & " is not a recognised RegEx pattern." Exit Sub End If If Not b_start Then b_start = True strReport = strReport & "Results" & vbCrLf End If If Not b_First And b_start Then strReport = strReport & vbCrLf & "In Smart Art on Slide " & osld.SlideIndex & ": " b_First = True Else End If Set oMatch = regX.Execute(strInput) For i = 0 To oMatch.Count - 1 strReport = strReport & oMatch(i) & " / " Next i End If End If End If Next GI Case Else If oshp.HasTable Then For iRow = 1 To oshp.Table.Rows.Count For iCol = 1 To oshp.Table.Columns.Count strInput = oshp.Table.Cell(iRow, iCol).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text b_found = regX.Test(strInput) If b_found = True Then If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox strpattern & " is not a recognised RegEx pattern." Exit Sub End If If Not b_start Then b_start = True strReport = strReport & "Results" & vbCrLf End If If Not b_First And b_start Then strReport = strReport & vbCrLf & "In Table on Slide " & osld.SlideIndex & ": " b_First = True Else End If Set oMatch = regX.Execute(strInput) For i = 0 To oMatch.Count - 1 strReport = strReport & oMatch(i) & " / " Next i End If Next iCol Next iRow End If If oshp.HasTextFrame And Not oshp.HasTable Then If oshp.TextFrame.HasText Then strInput = oshp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text b_found = regX.Test(strInput) If b_found = True Then If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox strpattern & " is not a recognised RegEx pattern." Exit Sub End If If Not b_start Then b_start = True strReport = strReport & "Results" & vbCrLf End If If Not b_First And b_start Then strReport = strReport & vbCrLf & "On Slide " & osld.SlideIndex & ": " End If Set oMatch = regX.Execute(strInput) For i = 0 To oMatch.Count - 1 strReport = strReport & oMatch(i) & " / " Next i End If End If End If End Select b_First = False If Right(strReport, 2) = "/ " Then strReport = Left(strReport, Len(strReport) - 2) Next oshp Next osld iFileNum = FreeFile Open Environ("USERPROFILE") & "\Desktop\Abbr.txt" For Output As iFileNum Print #iFileNum, strReport Close iFileNum Call Shell("NOTEPAD.EXE " & Environ("USERPROFILE") & "\Desktop\Abbr.txt", vbNormalFocus) Set regX = Nothing End Sub
How Does It work?
First the code loads an instance of RegEx and then loops through the text on each slide.
The Search pattern (\d+),(\d+) looks for any digit followed by , followed by any digit. The () tells RegEx to store the text found in between the brackets as $1 and $2.
The Replace line replaces the found pattern with $1 (the first number) " . " and $2 (the second number). It's use is changing continental decimals (with a comma) into UK or US decimals that use a period.
The second example uses the pattern "[A-Z?
More
You should be able to search for info on creating your own search patterns.
Here are a couple of simple ones.
.Pattern = "(19|20)\d\d" ' year starting 19 or 20
.Pattern = "[5-9]\d%" ' a pertentage score > 50%
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