apostrophe in source search

[Paul Reitz]

I am unable to reliably search for a source that contains an apostrophe in the data field. I have a number of frequently-used sources, such as "See child's marriage record", or "See child's obit field", which can't be found when "child's" is typed into the source search field. They and many others are found if the word "child", without apostrophe, is typed, but locating the correct source then requires careful inspection, so I'd like to use the word "child's".

If I *copy* the word "child's" from one of these sources and paste it into the search field, all sources using the word "child's" appear. Deleting the pasted word and re-typing "child's" into the search field, and all disappear.

Even a newly-created source with just "child's" typed into the data field is not found typing the same word, with apostrophe, into the search field. But again, paste the previously copied word "child's" into the search field, and all appear, including the new one.

It doesn't appear to be related to the action of pasting itself. For example, if the typed word is in the search field, copying, deleting, and pasting it back in does not find the sources.

I've seen similar wonkiness in Finder searches but not Spotlight.

Can anyone suggest a fix?

-Paul

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: apostrophe in source search

I am unable to reliably search for a source that contains an apostrophe in the data field [like] "child's"...Can anyone suggest a fix?

I think you already have the fix: paste what you're looking for into the search field.

The problem is this: The punctuation in "child's" can be more than one thing: a "single straight quote" or a "closing curly single quotation mark", or even an "apostrophe". In Unicode, there are three different characters: U0027 (apostrophe); U2019 (right single quotation mark) and U02BC (modifier letter apostrophe). Conceivably a "prime" character could also be used.

Which of these options is in your "child's"? It depends on what program you typed "child's" in, and whether that program had a setting for "smart quotes" that was turned on.

The "Smart Quotes" option in Reunion can be set by going to Preferences --> General --> click on "Use smart quotes" if that's the option you want.

My guess is that the word as entered/copied/pasted has a "smart" apostrophe in it, and your Reunion setting for smart quotes is off. If you change it to on, you'll probably find searching works more as you'd like it to.

[bmohr]

Re: apostrophe in source search

The "Smart Quotes" option in Reunion can be set by going to Preferences --> General --> click on "Use smart quotes" if that's the option you want.

My guess is that the word as entered/copied/pasted has a "smart" apostrophe in it, and your Reunion setting for smart quotes is off. If you change it to on, you'll probably find searching works more as you'd like it to.

The problem is that Reunion doesn't do smart quote substitutions in the search field, even if that preference is turned on. So, as Paul discovered, you can type some text (including quotes) into a source data field, save the source, and type the exact same text into the search field and get zero results. The quotes in the source get "educated," but the quotes in the search field don't.

I checked the behavior in Apple's own TextEdit and it seems to do what you'd expect: if smart quotes are turned on, they work both in the text of a document and in the search field.

Paul can get around this Reunion quirk by directly typing the smart apostrophe in the search field using option-shift-]

-Brad

[Paul Reitz]

Re: apostrophe in source search

The problem is that Reunion doesn't do smart quote substitutions in the search field, even if that preference is turned on. So, as Paul discovered, you can type some text (including quotes) into a source data field, save the source, and type the exact same text into the search field and get zero results. The quotes in the source get "educated," but the quotes in the search field don't.

Thanks for the clear explanation, Brad. I confirmed it does depend on the smart quotes state, apparently when the source was created.

I also found that pasting copied text finds only those sources containing the same variant of a character, as Dennis' post suggests, even though all copy/pastes were done only within Reunion.

That could explain why I have some duplicate sources; the second likely created when an existing one wasn't found. If search ignored these symbols as it does diacritical marks, "child's" would be found by entering "childs". The ultimate would be if search treated all variants of these symbols as equivalents.

Today I tested a second family file, and when I typed the word with apostrophe into the search field, it found all appropriate sources! Huh?? Inexplicably, I could not replicate this later - I'm going balmy.

Paul can get around this Reunion quirk by directly typing the smart apostrophe in the search field using option-shift-]

Ummm, not likely. Lol! :>) I develop a scratch pad memory when using an app intensely, such as formatting a complex Word document. Even then I have to re-learn the shortcuts for the next campaign. For Reunion I'm limited to nmc, nfc, cmd-N, cmd-S and cmd-R.

There are hundreds of app and system keyboard shortcuts that I'd use only occasionally, and for which behavior also depends on which computer I'm using. By some theories, were I to commit them to memory, it might displace something else, like, where I live! :>)

Thanks to your help, Brad and Dennis, I know what must be done and what must be avoided to be confident all appropriate sources are found.

Thanks again!

-Paul

[bmohr]

Re: apostrophe in source search

Ummm, not likely. Lol! :>) I develop a scratch pad memory when using an app intensely, such as formatting a complex Word document. Even then I have to re-learn the shortcuts for the next campaign. For Reunion I'm limited to nmc, nfc, cmd-N, cmd-S and cmd-R.

There are hundreds of app and system keyboard shortcuts that I'd use only occasionally, and for which behavior also depends on which computer I'm using. By some theories, were I to commit them to memory, it might displace something else, like, where I live! :>)

Understood. There is another way to get a smart quote into the search field that doesn't require memorizing arcane keyboard shortcuts or copying and pasting. Select "Emoji & Symbols" from the bottom of the Edit menu. In the character palette that appears, use the search field to look for "quotation" ("quot" will probably be enough). When you find the curly quote you want, just click on it and it will be inserted in whatever text field is active.