Find and replace -- how to exclude a certain number

[Straitsfan]

Is there any way to use find and replace to exclude a certain number of characters in a search? For example, what if I wanted to find if there are any occurrences of a space that less than or greater than 2, but not exactly two? Trying to figure this out but having trouble with the wildcard list, if this is even possible.

[acknak]

... occurrences of a space that less than or greater than 2, but not exactly two

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you're doing/looking for. Two what?

Maybe you mean two spaces in a row? If so, you can match either one space, or more than two spaces, with something like
Edit > Find & Replace
Search for: \S(\s|\s{3,})\S
Options/Match case: ON
Options/Regular expressions: ON

Click Find or Find All

[Zizi64]

what if I wanted to find if there are any occurrences of a space that less than or greater than 2, but not exactly two?

Start with searching (and replacing) the more than two occurrences if you using the "search and replace" function in normal mode. Because the three occurrences contain the two occurrences too. ("aaa" contain the "aa" pair: the search function will found it.)