# How to catch missing punctuation signs in target language **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645 "2020-08-20T17:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LDT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@LDT](https://forum.xbench.net/u/LDT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/1 "2020-08-20T17:31:44Z")
Hello there. Nice to virtually meet all of you. I am new to this forum. I have a question about customized checklists. How can I create a checklist that tracks missing punctuation signs, in particular end-of-sentence periods in the target language? Please let me know. Thank you so much. All the best, Laura ---
**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:** [August 21, 2020, 6:47am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/2 "2020-08-21T06:47:09Z")
Hi Laura, To find segments with missing period at the end, use the following search: Source: `\.[:space:]*$` Target: `-\.[:space:]*$` Search mode: Regular Expressions PowerSearch: On. To track any missing punctuation signs at the end of the segment, this search should help you: Source: `([:punct:][:space:]*)=1$` Target: `-@1$` Search mode: Regular Expressions PowerSearch: On. Please note that the second search looks for the same punctuation sign (but missing) in target. Regards, Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![LDT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@LDT](https://forum.xbench.net/u/LDT)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/3 "2020-08-21T12:18:07Z")
Hello Oscar, Thank you for this information. It is greatly appreciated. Do you know if we could run this search automatically for each project we work on? Please let me know. Thank you so much. All the best, Laura ![Outlook-rqdpn3qa.jpg](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/3b216560caeddb7d8780ec49e6621a3fa7410102.jpeg) ---
**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:** [August 21, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/4 "2020-08-21T12:47:12Z")
Hi Laura, Instead of adding the entries to a project checklist, create a checklist and add it as a personal checklist at the Checklist Manager tab. Then, the checklist will be available for all your projects. When running QA, click Run Personal Checklist and select that checklist. A different way would be to create a base Xbench project per product or customer and add the checklist as a project checklist. When checking a new project of that product, add your ongoing translation files to a copy of the base Xbench project and check ongoing translation. Regards, Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![LDT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@LDT](https://forum.xbench.net/u/LDT)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:41pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/5 "2020-08-21T13:41:08Z")
Thank you Omar, Very useful and greatly appreciated. All the best, Laura ![Outlook-rqdpn3qa.jpg](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/xbench/original/1X/3b216560caeddb7d8780ec49e6621a3fa7410102.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![tarik\_khachiaa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/tarik_khachiaa/32/409_2.png) [@tarik\_khachiaa](https://forum.xbench.net/u/tarik_khachiaa)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/6 "2023-03-11T20:47:46Z")
Hello Òscar, When trying to use the second search, I get an error in source: Incomplete expression. Thanks, Tarik ---
**Author:** ![Rita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rita](https://forum.xbench.net/u/Rita)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 11:42am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/7 "2024-01-10T11:42:47Z")
Hi! i am trying to create a rule that catches all target segment that have a different amount of punctuation marks than source, I used this expression: Source: ([:punctuation:]+)=1 Target: -@1 Search mode: Regular Expressions PowerSearch: On. but it’s returning the error Source term error: Incomplete expression can you help me? Thanks in advance Rita ---
**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:** [January 10, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/8 "2024-01-10T12:29:55Z")
When using variables as in `([:punctuation:]+)=1` together with PowerSearch, the string must be entered between quotation marks as in `"([:punctuation:]+)=1"`. Then Xbench will perform the search. ---
**Author:** ![Rita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rita](https://forum.xbench.net/u/Rita)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/9 "2024-01-10T13:39:53Z")
Hi Martin! thanks a lot for the quick response, that worked! but it seems to be stopping at the first instance of punctuation, I need to check them all, no matter how many are in the source I need to know if it’s the same in target. Grateful for any further help Rita ---
**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:** [January 22, 2024, 10:12am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/10 "2024-01-22T10:12:46Z")
The following search should work to check the first two punctuation marks of a sentence. You can check up to nine. Source: `"([:punctuation:]+)=1[^[:punctuation:]]+([:punctuation:])=2"` Target: `-@1 OR -@2` Search mode: Regular Expressions PowerSearch: on. ---
**Author:** ![ruzaanb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ruzaanb](https://forum.xbench.net/u/ruzaanb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/11 "2024-04-22T16:40:11Z")
Hello @omartin I have a EN to JP project and I used the last regexp that you provided… However it seems to be returning all segments, including those where the JP equivalent punctuation mark has been used. I want the result to show only those segments where there is a mismatch of trailing punctuation marks… Hope to hear from you soon. Regards, Ruzaan ---
**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:** [July 2, 2024, 8:29am UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-catch-missing-punctuation-signs-in-target-language/645/13 "2024-07-02T08:29:01Z")
@ruzaanb Please note that `[:punctuation:]` special set matches any of the following characters `! “ # % & ‘ ( ) * , - . / : ; ? @ [] _ { } ¡ « - · » ¿`. However, Japanese or Chinese punctuation characters are not included. This search should be adapted to include those characters in target. - [【 】— Lenticular Brackets](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_1) - [「 」— Singular Quotation Marks](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_2) - [『 』— Double Quotation Marks](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_3) - [、— Comma](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_4) - [… — Ellipsis](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_5) - [。— Period or “Full Stop”](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_6) - [〜 — Wave Mark](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_7) - [・ — Interpunct](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_8) - [〽 — Alternation Mark](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_9) - [（ ）— Parentheses](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_10) - [？— Question Mark](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_11) - [！— Exclamation Point](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-punctuation/#toc_12)