Excel Find and Replace: Search for a Question Mark

To find a literal question mark in Excel, open Find or Replace and enter ~? in the Find what box: the tilde tells Excel to treat the question mark as a character, not a wildcard. By itself, ? matches any single character, so the tilde is essential when you mean the punctuation mark.

Why a question mark acts as a wildcard

Excel’s Find and Replace tools recognize wildcard characters in the Find what field. A question mark stands for exactly one character, while an asterisk stands for any number of characters, including none. The tilde is the escape character: it tells Excel to interpret the wildcard character that follows as ordinary text.

? matches one character, such as the A in Maple or the 7 in Room 7.
* matches a run of characters, such as all the text after Order in Order 438.
~? searches for a literal question mark.
~* searches for a literal asterisk, and ~~ searches for a literal tilde.

This behavior is useful for flexible searches, but it can be surprising when a symbol is part of the data. If you search for ? without escaping it, Excel may find cells containing ordinary letters, digits, spaces, or other single characters rather than cells containing the punctuation mark.

Find a literal question mark in Excel

In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, use these steps to search the active worksheet:

Press Ctrl+F to open Find, or go to Home > Find & Select > Find.
In the Find what box, type ~?.
Select Find Next to move through matches, or choose Find All to list matching cells in the dialog.
If Excel is searching the wrong content or the wrong area, choose Options and review the search settings.

For a search that will also change data, press Ctrl+H or choose Home > Find & Select > Replace. Put ~? in Find what, then use Find Next or Replace to check individual matches. This is safer than immediately choosing Replace All, especially in a large workbook.

On Excel for Mac, use the Edit > Find > Find or Edit > Find > Replace menu path and enter the same ~? search text. Shortcut behavior can differ with the Mac keyboard and settings, so the menu is a dependable alternative. Excel for the web also supports Find and Replace from its Home ribbon; the tilde escape is the same.

Use the question mark to find a pattern

If the goal is to find text with one unknown character, enter ? without a tilde. For example, searching for c?t can find cat, cot, or cut, because the middle character can be any single character. It will not match cart, which has two characters between the C and T.

Wildcards are most useful when the parts around the unknown character are distinctive. A search for INV-?7 might find codes such as INV-A7 or INV-37. A search for just ? is broad: unless you enable Match entire cell contents, it can match a one-character portion inside many longer text entries. Review the search scope and use surrounding text to narrow the results.

Excel’s wildcard question mark represents one character in a search pattern; it is not a regular expression and does not mean “optional character.” To allow any number of characters, use an asterisk instead. For instance, ca*t can match text that starts with ca and ends with t, with zero or more characters between those parts.

Replace question marks without changing other characters

To remove actual question marks from cells, open Replace, enter ~? in Find what, and leave Replace with empty. Choose Replace to remove one confirmed match at a time, or Replace All to remove every matching question mark in the chosen search area. Excel reports how many replacements it made.

To change question marks to another character, put the new character or text in Replace with. For example, use a comma if a question mark is an unwanted separator. The wildcard interpretation applies to the Find what pattern; a question mark typed in Replace with is replacement text, not a request to match another arbitrary character.

Be careful with the reverse operation. If you put a plain ? in Find what and a question mark in Replace with, Excel can replace one character at a time throughout the selected search area. That can overwrite useful content. If your aim is to replace literal punctuation, always escape the search character as ~? and inspect a few matches before replacing all.

Choose the right search options and scope

The Find and Replace dialog includes settings that affect what Excel searches. Open Options to review them before diagnosing an unexpected result. In particular, check Within for Sheet or Workbook, and Look in for Formulas, Values, or Notes. The available choices can vary slightly with the Excel version and context.

Within: Sheet searches the active worksheet. Choose Workbook when the text may be on another sheet.
Look in: Values searches displayed cell results, while Formulas searches formula text. A question mark shown by a formula result may require searching values; a question mark typed inside the formula itself may require searching formulas.
Match case matters for letters, but it does not change whether a question mark is interpreted as a wildcard.
Match entire cell contents limits results to cells whose complete contents match the search pattern. With ~?, that means a cell containing only a question mark, not a longer entry such as Why?.

These settings also explain why Find All can return a different set of results from what you expected. For a workbook-wide search, set the scope to Workbook; for a formula audit, choose Formulas; for visible text in calculated cells, choose Values. If you have selected a range, verify that the search is not being limited to just that selection.

Common problems and safe checks

If Excel finds ordinary text instead of question marks, the usual cause is entering ? rather than ~?. If it finds no matches, check that the cells actually contain a question mark and that the Look in setting is appropriate. A question mark may be part of a formula’s displayed result rather than the formula text, or the reverse.

Before using Replace All, use Find Next or Find All to confirm the match list. Also check that the search is limited to the intended sheet or workbook. Replacing text inside formulas can change how those formulas work, so do not use Replace All across formulas unless changing their text is specifically intended. Save a copy first if the operation is broad or difficult to reverse; Undo may not be available after every intervening action.

Another common source of confusion is the tilde itself. To find a literal tilde followed by a question mark, search for ~~~?: the first two tildes represent one literal tilde, and the final tilde escapes the question mark. For a simple question mark alone, however, the correct search remains just ~?.

Examples for real worksheets

Suppose a feedback column contains Really helpful?, Needs review, and Why?. Searching for ~? finds entries containing the punctuation mark. If Match entire cell contents is turned on, Excel will find only a cell whose complete content is a single question mark, so leave that option off to find the mark within longer responses.

For an inventory sheet, imagine product codes include AX7, AB7, and AX17. Searching for A?7 can match a three-character code with A first, any character second, and 7 last. If you want to find a literal code containing a question mark rather than a variable character, enter ~? as part of the search pattern, such as A~?7.

When cleaning imported text, a safer workflow is to search for ~?, inspect the listed cells, and then decide whether to remove or replace the punctuation. Question marks can be meaningful in survey responses, notes, or product descriptions, so deleting every occurrence may discard information. If only one column should change, select and verify the intended range before using Replace All.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I search for a question mark in Excel?
Enter ~? in Find what. The tilde escapes the question mark, making Excel search for the punctuation mark itself rather than any single character.

Why does Excel find letters when I search for ?
Because ? is a wildcard for one character. Use ~? when you want to find an actual question mark.

How do I replace every question mark with a blank?
Open Replace, enter ~? in Find what, leave Replace with empty, and choose Replace All after checking the scope and matches.

Can I use ? to match one unknown character?
Yes. Enter it without a tilde in a pattern, such as c?t, to match a three-character sequence beginning with C and ending with T.

How do I search for a literal tilde in Excel?
Use ~~ in Find what. Excel treats the first tilde as an escape for the second, so the search looks for a literal tilde character.

Try it: the Date Difference Calculator: days, months, years and weekdays between two dates, with the DATEDIF formulas.

More in How-to basics

Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

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