how to select all shape with a specific word in their name

Select and hide all shapes with at specific word in their name.

Hello,

Im making a map using excel. I have a macro that inserts a pin/ new shape in the top right corner of the map that you then need to manually move by draging it to the right place in the map. the macro also gives all the pins a new name so each new pin/shape that is inserted has a difined name. For example A23_AXR42_Towncar

A23- is the sequential order of the shape (i.e this was the 23 shape that was inserted)
AXR42_ is the id number of the car
Towncar- is the category

In total there will be 7 different categories of pins. and new pins will be added along the way. I need a way to select all shapes in one sheet that has the word Towncar in their name. So when i click a button it selects all the shapes and then hide/show them using the pane window.

Is this a thing that is possible?

i completely new to everything that has with VBA to do. But i have tried to record a macro by choosing all shapes containing a certain word in the name. but this didnt really work.

Here is the code that i gotfrom recording a macro. The problem is that it just select all shapes bsed on their name. i need it to choose all shapes that have "towncar" in the name

    Sub Select_towncar_shapes()
'
' Select_towncar_shapes Makro
'

'
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A19_XRT44_Towncar")).Select
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A19_XRT44_Towncar", "A23_ZWE18_Towncar")). _
        Select
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A19_XRT44_Towncar", "A23_ZWE18_Towncar", _
        "A20_VBV77_Towncar")).Select
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A19_XRT44_Towncar", "A23_ZWE18_Towncar", _
        "A20_VBV77_Towncar", "A24_RTC53_Towncar")).Select
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A24_RTC53_Towncar")).Visible = msoFalse
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A23_ZWE18_Towncar")).Visible = msoFalse
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A20_VBV77_Towncar")).Visible = msoFalse
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A19_XRT44_Towncar")).Visible = msoFalse
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A19_XRT44_Towncar")).Visible = msoTrue
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A20_VBV77_Towncar")).Visible = msoTrue
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A23_ZWE18_Towncar")).Visible = msoTrue
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("A24_RTC53_Towncar")).Visible = msoTrue
End Sub

The following routine will show or hide all shapes of a worksheet where the shape name contain a specific word. There is no need to select any shape and set the visibility manually:

Sub ShowHideShapes(ws As Worksheet, word As String, show As Boolean)
    Dim sh As Shape
    For Each sh In ws.Shapes
        If InStr(1, sh.Name, word, vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
            sh.Visible = show
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Now put 2 buttons on your sheet, one to show and one to hide the shapes. The code for this buttons would be

Sub buttonShow_click()
    ShowHideShapes ActiveSheet, "Towncar", True
End Sub

Sub buttonHide_click()
    ShowHideShapes ActiveSheet, "Towncar", False
End Sub

Note that you can also use shapes to execute macros, just place them on the sheet, right click on it and use "Assign Macro".

If you want to show and hide other shapes with different names, simply change the 2nd parameter from "Towncar" to whatever you want to show or hide.

Show/Hide Shapes

The Calling Procedures

<!-- language: lang-vb -->

Sub ShowTownCar()
    Dim wb As Workbook: Set wb = ThisWorkbook ' workbook containing this code
    ShowHideShapes "TownCar", wb, "Sheet1"
End Sub

Sub HideTownCar()
    Dim wb As Workbook: Set wb = ThisWorkbook ' workbook containing this code
    ShowHideShapes "TownCar", wb, "Sheet1", True
End Sub

The Called Procedure (Method)

<!-- language: lang-vb -->

Sub ShowHideShapes( _
        ByVal EndsWith As String, _
        ByVal wb As Workbook, _
        Optional ByVal WorksheetName As String = "", _
        Optional ByVal DoHide As Boolean = False)
    
    Dim ws As Worksheet:
    If Len(WorksheetName) = 0 Then
        Set ws = wb.ActiveSheet
    Else
        Set ws = wb.Sheets(WorksheetName)
    End If
    
    Dim eLen As Long: eLen = Len(EndsWith)
    
    Dim dict As Object, shp As Shape, shpName As String, IsFirstFound As Boolean
    
    For Each shp In ws.Shapes
        shpName = shp.Name
        If Len(shpName) >= eLen Then
            If StrComp(Right(shp.Name, eLen), EndsWith, vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
                If Not IsFirstFound Then
                    Set dict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
                    dict.CompareMode = vbTextCompare
                    IsFirstFound = True
                End If
                dict(shpName) = Empty
            End If
        End If
    Next shp
  
    If dict Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "No shapes ending with """ & EndsWith & """ found.", _
            vbExclamation
        Exit Sub ' no shapes found
    End If
    
    ws.Shapes.Range(dict.Keys).Visible = Not DoHide

End Sub

I made it as easy as possible.
Better to give the name as argument but for a beginner this one is easier

Public Sub SelectShapesByName()
        Dim i As Long
        Dim f() As Variant, z As Long
        Dim StepField As Long
             Dim ws As Worksheet
        Set ws = ActiveSheet
        On Error GoTo errExit
        StepField = 5
        ReDim f(StepField)
        z = -1
        For i = 1 To ws.Shapes.Count
            On Error Resume Next
            If ws.Shapes(i).Type <> 4 Then
                If ws.Shapes(i).Name Like "*Towncar*" Then ' Here is the name
                    If Err.Number = 0 Then
                        z = z + 1
                        If z > StepField Then
                            StepField = StepField + 5
                            ReDim Preserve f(StepField)
                        End If
                        f(z) = i
                    End If
                End If
            End If
        Next i
    
    On Error GoTo errExit
    If z > -1 Then
        If UBound(f) <> z Then ReDim Preserve f(z)
        ws.Shapes.Range(f).Select
    End If
    Exit Sub
    errExit:
    End Sub

Try this:

Sub select_towncar_shapes()
  select_shapes "towncar"
End Sub

Sub hide_towncar_shapes()
  shapes_visibility "towncar", False
End Sub

Sub show_towncar_shapes()
  shapes_visibility "towncar", True
End Sub

Sub shapes_visibility(includedStr As String, is_visible As Boolean)
  Dim sht As Worksheet:         Set sht = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet3")
  Dim shapes_array() As String: shapes_array = get_shapes_array(sht, includedStr)
  
  On Error Resume Next
  sht.Shapes.Range(shapes_array).Visible = is_visible
End Sub

Sub select_shapes(includedStr As String)
  Dim sht As Worksheet:         Set sht = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet3")
  Dim shapes_array() As String: shapes_array = get_shapes_array(sht, includedStr)
  
  On Error Resume Next
  sht.Shapes.Range(shapes_array).Select
End Sub
 
Function get_shapes_array(sht As Worksheet, includedStr As String) As String()
  Dim shp As Shape
  Dim output() As String
  Dim arrayCount As Long
  
  For Each shp In sht.Shapes
    If InStr(1, shp.Name, includedStr, vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
      arrayCount = arrayCount + 1
      ReDim Preserve output(1 To arrayCount)
      output(arrayCount) = shp.Name
    End If
  Next shp
  get_shapes_array = output
End Function