Select Using Advanced Criteria

Select objects by specifying a type of data (baseline, coordinate, point, and so on) and a specific property of that data. If needed, continue to build or modify your selection by specifying additional data types and their properties.

To select data using specific criteria:

  1. Select Advanced Select in Home > Selection.

    The Advanced Select dialog displays, showing your current selection in the Current Status group.

  2. In the Apply This Selection To section, specify whether to select from the currently selected objects or from all data in the project, and whether to replace or add to the current selection.
  3. In the Data type list, select the type of data you want to include in your selection.
  1. If there is no need to further narrow your selection search (that is, you want to select all of the objects of the type selected in the Data type list), select the All of this data type option and proceed directly to step 6. Otherwise, continue with the next step.

    Note: Your selection includes all of the objects of the type selected in the Data type list that are included in the entire project, or just those objects included in the currently selected items, depending on your selection in the Apply This Section To group.

  2. To further narrow your selection search, do the following:
    1. Select the Data with the following property option.
    2. In the drop-down list, select the property type of the objects you want to include in your selection.

      If you select the Attribute property type, the Name drop-down list becomes active, allowing you to select a feature attribute name from a list of all of the available attribute names in your project. When an attribute name is shared by multiple features but the attribute has different types (for example, numeric and string), the attribute name is preceded by the feature name in the list (for example, BroadleafTree/Spread).

    3. If applicable, in the Name drop-down list, select the appropriate feature attribute.

      The data type and property you selected determine the options available in the That is drop-down list

    4. In the That is drop-down list, select the appropriate option. Then, enter or select a value in the This value field.

      The data type and property you selected determine whether the This value field displays as a text entry field or as a drop-down list.

      If you type a value in the This value field, a list can display showing you the matching values as you type each character. You can select the appropriate value from the list.

      For examples of regular expressions, which you can type or paste into the This value field (again, dependent on your data type and property selection), see that table at the end of this topic.

      Note: If you are typing a duration in the This value box, it must be in the time format used used by your computer's operating system, which is likely HH:MM:SS (Hours:Minutes:Seconds).

  1. To select the inverse of the criteria you specify, check the Invert selected objects box.

    This deselects all items that would have been selected and selects all of the previously unselected items.

  2. Click Apply to preview the results.
  3. Optionally, select additional objects using the same procedure.
  4. When you are done selecting objects, click OK to make the selection and close the Advanced Select dialog.

Regular Expression Examples
To select objects with an alphanumeric property...

(such as name, point ID, or feature code)

 ...use this expression

(not case-sensitive)

 Examples

With a specific character in any position.

a

(where a is the character)

(equivalent to *a* wildcard)

a will select apple, cat, and era (if in your data for each example).

With a specific character in the first position.

^a

(where a is the character)

(equivalent to a* wildcard)

^1 will select 1, 15, and 129F.

With a specific character in the second position in the name.

^.a

(where a is the character)

^.b will select aba, 1b2, and ab2.

With a specific character in the third position in the name.

^..a

(where a is the character)

^..n will select control, and b2new.

(Additional periods can be added to specify further positions in the string.)

With a specific character in the last position.

a$

(where a is the character)

(equivalent to *a wildcard)

s$ will select control point 205 s and cas.

That has five characters.

^…..$

^…..$ will select 50000 and point

Starting and ending with specific characters.

^a.*b$

(where a and b are the characters)

^p.*s$ will select pipes and points.

With one specific name (or part of a name) or another.

ab|cd

(where ab and cd are the names)

bush|shrub will select all objects with bush, bushes or shrub (feature codes, for example) as all or part of the name.

Numerically or alphabetically ranging from one number or letter to another.

^[a-d]

(where a and d are the characters or numerals)

^[2-5] will select 2, 5, and all other objects with numbered properties between them.

That include a decimal (point or comma).

\. or \,

\. will select 1.0 and 0.025.

That start with one or another specific character.

^[ab]

(where a and b are the characters or numerals)

^[89] will select 8, 82, or 919.

Numerically or alphabetically ranging from one number or letter to more than one choice of number or letter repeated a specified number of times.

[b-de]{x}

(where b, d, e, and x are the characters or numerals)

[1-56]{4} will select 1111, 4444, and 6666.

For more information on regular expressions, see Reference: Regular Expressions.

Related topics

Selection Methods and Options