# Finding spaces missing before parenthesis **URL:** \ **Category:** Technical Support\ **Created:** [April 16, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597 "2020-04-16T11:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rosario\_de\_Zayas\_Rue](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/rosario_de_zayas_rue/32/215_2.png) [@Rosario\_de\_Zayas\_Rue](https://forum.xbench.net/u/Rosario_de_Zayas_Rue)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/1 "2020-04-16T11:31:01Z")
I have noticed that Xbench does not detec missing spaces between words or before a parenthesis. For example: “My house(which is blue) has eight windows”. Strangely enough, Xbench does not detect this. Is there any way I can add it to my personal checklist? Any help will be much appreciated. Regards, Rosario ---
**Author:** ![omartin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/omartin/32/82_2.png) [@omartin](https://forum.xbench.net/u/omartin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/2 "2020-04-16T13:03:56Z")
The following search should help you to find missing spaces before an opening parenthesis or after a closing parenthesis). Target term: `[^[::space]]\( OR \)[^[:space:]]` Search mode: Regular Expressions PowerSearch: On. Spell-checking should detect missing spaces between words. Regards, Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![Rosario\_de\_Zayas\_Rue](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/rosario_de_zayas_rue/32/215_2.png) [@Rosario\_de\_Zayas\_Rue](https://forum.xbench.net/u/Rosario_de_Zayas_Rue)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/3 "2020-04-16T15:29:33Z")
Hi Oscar, Thanks for your reply, I am afraid that the formula does not work. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/ec351544336e05770afa52f4e9b92e7b58021d4a.png) This is the message appearing in Xbench. Could you please advice about how to proceed? Regards, Rosario ---
**Author:** ![omartin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/omartin/32/82_2.png) [@omartin](https://forum.xbench.net/u/omartin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/4 "2020-04-16T15:57:22Z")
Rosario, I entered a typo. Please use this one. > [@omartin](#): > > Target term: **`[^[:space:]]\( OR \)[^[:space:]]`** > Search mode: Regular Expressions > PowerSearch: On. ---
**Author:** ![Javier\_Mallo](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/javier_mallo/32/9_2.png) [@Javier\_Mallo](https://forum.xbench.net/u/Javier_Mallo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 6:44am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/5 "2020-04-19T06:44:51Z")
Thank, Óscar and Rosario. Óscar, would you do the following to avoid FPs with punctuation after the closing parenthesis? )[^[:space:]][[:alpha:]] ---
**Author:** ![omartin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/omartin/32/82_2.png) [@omartin](https://forum.xbench.net/u/omartin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 7:07am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/6 "2020-04-20T07:07:12Z")
This search should find closing parenthesis followed by any character that does not belong to the [:space:] [special set](https://docs.xbench.net/user-guide/special-sets/#body-inner) plus an alphabetic character. It should find the following strings: **done)as** **done),a** But will not find **done), a** ---
**Author:** ![eang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/977dab/32.png) [@eang](https://forum.xbench.net/u/eang)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/7 "2021-12-21T03:22:28Z")
I followed the search settings you have provided but an error appeared. Which part have I done wrongly? Please advise. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/9b9b28bfc28beeb8eafb18fc28a26f68779e219a.png) ---
**Author:** ![omartin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/omartin/32/82_2.png) [@omartin](https://forum.xbench.net/u/omartin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 10:31am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/8 "2021-12-22T10:31:26Z")
> [@eang](#): > > ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/9b9b28bfc28beeb8eafb18fc28a26f68779e219a.png) If the search mode is regular expressions, the parentheses characters must be escaped to be searched as characters. \( \) ---
**Author:** ![eang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/977dab/32.png) [@eang](https://forum.xbench.net/u/eang)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/9 "2021-12-23T02:00:47Z")
My Windows locale was set to Japanese so the backslash is displayed as yen symbol. I used another PC with English locale and backslash is displayed properly now but the same error message is still displayed. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/e9489ac6340d69ca7edb87bd933ba77c40f0a980.png) ---
**Author:** ![taka](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/taka/32/337_2.png) [@taka](https://forum.xbench.net/u/taka)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/finding-spaces-missing-before-parenthesis/597/10 "2022-01-12T05:18:07Z")
I am having the same issue as the above post. For some reason, the rule for the opening bracket works fine in PowerSearch, but the rule for the closing bracket does not work with PowerSearch. ![이미지 047](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/b8be8888de3995d25b6ed7a2f972310fb3839ebe.png) I think a workaround is to use two separate Checklist items instead of using OR (one rule for the opening bracket and the other for the closing bracket).