topic Re: Find (ctrl-F) and replace (ctrl-H) not reognized in SAS Programming

Find (ctrl-F) and replace (ctrl-H) not reognized

dwaldo — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:14:39 GMT

For some reason, the find and replace operator in my program window stopped being recognized: I cannot "find" anything or "replace" anything.

Did some weird setting become disrupted? ctrl-C and ctrl-X are just fine, but ctrl-F and ctrl-H are just returned with a blank stare - as are the find and replace commands in the drop-down menu

Re: Find (ctrl-F) and replace (ctrl-H) not reognized

ChrisHemedinger — Thu, 14 May 2026 17:36:06 GMT

Which editor are you using? PC SAS (Display Manager), SAS Enterprise Guide, SAS Studio (and is it SAS 9.4 or SAS Viya)?

Re: Find (ctrl-F) and replace (ctrl-H) not reognized

ballardw — Sat, 16 May 2026 20:05:11 GMT

"Stopped being recognized" implies that the key strokes had been recognized before. But that "before" often means that something in your system changed. It may help to describe any recent changes in your system.

Have there been any updates to software recently? And since ctrl-F and H are system keys in many respects system changes count.

Or did you change something and didn't change it back? For example in the SAS display manager the ctrl-F and H brings up a dialog box that has some options such as Find in Code and comments, Find in code only or Find in Comments only. If you set one of those options they persist until changed. So if have set Find in Comments then the find won't find anything in the code section. Or if you clicked on the Match Whole Word or Case options you might not be finding as expected. And the Replace won't work if nothing is found.

I've had keyboard errors such that the proper codes aren't sent to the computer and keyboard models that either require additional key settings or strokes to send standard function key codes.

Also as @ChrisHemedinger mentioned which environment.

Re: Find (ctrl-F) and replace (ctrl-H) not reognized

ChrisHemedinger — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:25:19 GMT

I'm just now realizing this is probably caused by the Find window displaying off screen (SAS Enterprise Guide).

If you suspect that you have a window that's "in focus" but off screen, use these keyboard shortcuts:

Alt+SPACE, then M, then use the arrow keys to move the window into view.

Practice a few times with your multiple displays to get the hang of it.

EG *should* detect that a window is out-of-view and move it into the primary display if needed, but it's possible that there is an instance or two where this isn't happening.