Search and Replace in Lotus 1-2-3
In Mark Scardina's comparison of the HP 200LX with the HP320LX, he mentioned that Lotus 1-2-3 on the 200LX has a search and replace function. I have heard a lot of people say that they can not find it. The search and replace function is pretty well buried in Lotus's menu system, but it is there. I'll tell you where it is and how to use it.
The search feature is located in the Range menu. To invoke it, press (MENU) Range Search. You will be prompted to enter the range of the spreadsheet you want to search (for example, A1..Z500). You are next prompted to "Enter string to search for." At this point you need to enter the letters or numbers to search for. The search string in not case sensitive.
Supply the search string and press (ENTER), and Lotus will ask you where you want to search: in formulas, labels, or both.
If you select formulas, then Lotus will only search the formulas in the range you specified for the search string. This would be very useful if you had a spreadsheet that calculated salesmen's commissions, and the commission rate changed.
Searching through labels will search everything that is not a formula. For example, it will search text or numbers that are not used in formulas.
Searching both formulas and labels will find the first occurrence of the search string in the range, regardless of where it is.
Once you have told Lotus where to search for the search string, you are asked if you want to find or replace the search string.
Find will go through the specified range and stop at the first occurrence of the search string and prompt you to find the next occurrence, or to quit.
If you choose Replace you are prompted to supply a replacement string. Once you have given Lotus the replacement string, the program will go to the first occurrence and prompt you to "Replace," "All, Next, Quit."
If you select "Replace," Lotus will replace it and go to the next one, then give you the same prompt. "All" will replace all of the occurrences in the range, and "Next" will go to the next occurrence and ask what you want to do with that occurrence.
The Search and Replace feature in Lotus 1-2-3 can be a very powerful tool for your arsenal. It's too bad that it isn't well documented.
Tom Gibson
Technical Editor, HP Palmtop Paper
tom_gibson@thaddeus.com