Help with wildcard Replace syntax, please?

[Ed from AZ]

I tried a wildcard Find/Replace:
-- Find: 5 spaces, any combination of 2 numbers, a period
( {5,})[0-9]{2,}.
-- Replace: 9 spaces, then "a."
( {9})a.

Find worked. Replace gave me: " {9}a."

I gave up trying to code it and just typed 9 spaces! 8>/
Is there something special I needed to do in the Replace box?

Ed

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You must enter into the Replace box exactly what it is that you want to be
used as the replacement

Though, you could have used

([ ]{4}) [0-9]{2}

in the Find what control and then

\1\1 a

in the Replace with control

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

 

[macropod]

Hi Ed from AZ,

You can't use the character count expression in the Replace field - you need to explicitly input the # characters or, as Doug has
done, employ a suitable expression from the Find field.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Others have responded to the immediate issue, but see also
http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm
--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Ed from AZ]

Thanks, Doug, macropod, and Graham. I've tried to master the wildcard
Find - but forgot to spend time on Replace! (Other than the ^13 - ^p
gotcha that was explicitly called out.)

Cheers!
Ed