GREP in InDesign

Quick Reference

Character Representations

\x{nn}	Two-digit hexadecimal code. \x{20} represents the space character
\x{nnnn}	Four-digit hexadecimal code (Unicode): \x{0020} represents the space character
\N{unicode name}	Unicode names. \N{Latin small letter a with ogonek} represents ą. The Unicode’s name is case-insensitive, but it matches case-sensitively. Thus, both \N{latin small letter a with ogonek} and \N{Latin Small letter A with ogonek} match ą.

Character Classes 1: Standard Classes

I call these classes “standard” for lack of a better term. They were part of the first implementations of GREP, and of the three types of class, to this day the standard classes are the easiest to use.

[char]	A single character or a group of characters
[^char]	Exclude single character or a group of characters
.	Any character except paragraph break
\w	Word character: letters, digits, and underscore
\W	Non-word character
\l	Lowercase letter
\L	Non-lowercase letter
\u	Uppercase letter
\U	Non-uppercase letter
\d	Digit
\D	Nondigit
\h	Horizontal space: all spaces and tabs
\H	Non-horizontal space characters
\s	Whitespace character: all spaces, tabs, and returns
\S	Non-whitespace character
\v	Vertical space: break characters—paragraph break, forced line break, page, column, frame breaks.
\V	Whatever is not \v

Character Classes 2: Posix Expressions

There is much overlap between the Posix class and the standard class. Most Posix expressions listed here can ...