topic Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11 in Mathcad

Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

OK_10940317 — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 07:08:29 GMT

I am trying to find a Variable in a "F"+subscript(tl) format. Find only searches for "F" alone, but that finds F with any subscript or tl but that finds any variable with tl subscript. How do I find my "F"+subscript(tl)s?

p.s. This forum wont even let me format the subscript ...

p.s. If PTC decided to wage war upon subscripts, why did they not superscript them in the convertor???

Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

LucMeekes — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:00:49 GMT

Are you sure your variable name contains a (literal) subscript, or is F the variable name and tl an index?

Apart from that, Prime 11 should be capable of searching for variable names that contain a (literal) subscript.

PS. This forum does allow subscripts, you just have to click the button to see more formatting options.

Proof: F_tl.

Success!
Luc

Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

ppal — Thu, 01 May 2025 03:53:34 GMT

I have the same issue - the find and replace feature for variables with subscript is just junk.

Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

SM1 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:21:14 GMT

Agreed. No way to search variable with subscript.

Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

Werner_E — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:51:04 GMT

@LucMeekes wrote:

Are you sure your variable name contains a (literal) subscript, or is F the variable name and tl an index?

Apart from that, Prime 11 should be capable of searching for variable names that contain a (literal) subscript.

I guess that's not true - at least not if your intention is to search (and possibly replace) the whole variable name.

If the variable name is H₂O you can search for the "H" and you may let it replace. This is also true for the "2" and the "O". But you can't search for the whole variable name and replace it for something like "Water".

This is in accordance with the help which only talks about being able to search/replace alphanumeric characters "You can use Find and Replace to locate numbers, letters, and other symbols in a worksheet. Numbers and letters can be found in both text and math regions. However, some characters, such as punctuation marks, symbols, and operators can only be found in text regions."

Variable names with subscripts are not mentioned at all

There is no way you can insert a subscript in the Search window and if you paste the variable you get something like "(@ID H (@SUB 2) O)" and Prime is not able to find anything..

And, yes, this and also missing features like "replace all", or the ability to replace part of a name by nothing (deleting part of the name), etc. makes Search and Replace in Prime rather useless and not worth paying attention to.

Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

LucMeekes — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 10:59:29 GMT

Sorry, I guess I was mislead by the 'What's new" for Prime 6, that says:

"Find/Replace in Mathcad worksheets now includes the ability to find and replace individual subscripts or find and replace individual portions of an existing identifier. This makes it much easier to change subscripts or manage the identifiers used in your worksheet."

Based upon your experience "much easier" can be replaced by "still impossible".

Luc

Re: Search for variable with subscript Prime 11

Werner_E — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:55:08 GMT

Well, the announcement isn't entirely wrong, because you can indeed find and replace the subscripts. Incidentally, it also works for vector/matrix indices. But unfortunately, it only works for the subscripts/indices OR the base name, but not the complete variable name consisting of base and subscripts.
It's always amazing to see how difficult it is for PTC to implement even simple things, implemented in much cheaper software already for decades.

EDIT: I just gave it a try to see what that 'improvement' in P6 mentioned in the help would look like:

When we have a definition x_a:=5 and look for a to replace it for b, in P5 the variable name is replaced fully and we get b:=5, while in P6+ we get x_b:=5. Isn't that great!? So the question is just how long it would take PTC to implement a search for a subscripted variable name and replace it for another subscripted one, like replacing x_a with y_b in one go.

Not sure if upvoting this "idea" or this" idea" (more than three years old) would be of any help, though.

EDIT2: Good News! According to this "Sneak Peak" we will get the desired functionality 'already' in Prime 12 which is scheduled for Q2 this year: