Problem entering caret (^) in search field

[Frank Ralf]

Hi,

I often use negated character classes when doing search and replace operations using regular expressions. However, I often have trouble entering the caret character (^) in the search field, sometimes it works, most often not. For example hitting the ^-key twice in a row will enter four ^s.

I'm on Windows 7 using a German keyboard so this might have something to do with the keyboard mapping?

Can anyone confirm this behavior?

Kind regards,
Frank

[adrian]

Hi,

Have you tested the same in Notepad or Wordpad? Does it behave differently?

AFAIK, this is specific to the input method selected for your keyboard in the OS keyboard/language settings.
^ can be combined with the following character, so the input method may wait for your next character and only insert the actual ^ character if it can't combine it with your latest character. Pressing space after ^ should insert your character immediately.

Regards,
Adrian

[Frank Ralf]

Hi Adrian,

^ can be combined with the following character, so the input method may wait for your next character and only insert the actual ^ character if it can't combine it with your latest character. Pressing space after ^ should insert your character immediately.

That is the usual method I use and it does work exactly as you describe in every other text editor (Notepad, Notepad++, Wordpad), only oXygen behaves strange, not only in search fields but also in text editors.

But thanks to your pointer I found the culprit: it's the Hotstring feature of the AutoHotkey-based tool collection ac'tivAid which is capable of intercepting certain keystrokes and interpreting them as Windows commands. Disabling this feature does solve the problem.

Sorry for the false alarm and thanks again for your help!

Frank