Wildcard question please

[ThomasLLL]

I have a bunch of footnotes that appear in the the text and source code as and [iv] and [xxiii], etc.   I don't need them to link anywhere.

But I do want to superscript them.

So I need a way to search the source code for [anything] and replace it with ^[anything].  

So any time my code contains left-bracket, any character(s), right bracket...that code stays the same except for ^{before it and} after it.

I am getting confusing with my syntax involving the brackets.   thanks !

[WolfShade]

Will the content always be between the same tags, every time?  <div> or <span> or <blockquote>?  Which?

I'm sure a RegEx would be perfect for what you want to do.

V/r,

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[ThomasLLL]

The content is always part of normal text paragraphs.  The only tags around them are <p></p>.

RegEx does seem to be the way to go, but I can't quite get the context right on what to search for and replace with.

[WolfShade]

Lemme do some research.  I've got a RegEx that looks for HTML tags and strip them out without removing the content in between opening and closing tags.  I might be able to modify it for this purpose, but I need to look into something to see if it will work.

V/r,

^ _ ^

[WolfShade]

Okay.. I have not tested this, but give it a shot.

Highlight the block of code that contains the <p> tags.  Open Find/Replace.

Make sure the checkbox for "Use Regular Expression" is checked.

In the Find area, enter:

(<\s*p[^>]*>([^<]*)<\s*\/\s*p\s*>)

In the Replace area, enter:

^$1

Don't initially hit "Replace All", try just one or two and if it works THEN hit "Replace All". 

This should work.  AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO 'LESS THAN' (<) CHARACTERS IN BETWEEN  OPENING AND CLOSING TAGS.

V/r,

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[ThomasLLL]

Wow, thanks so much.   That was close, but it's putting the sup tags around the whole P tags, but I only need it around the bracketed info.

So my code is like this:

<p>This is a sentence[vii] </p>

What I want is:

<p>This is a sentence^[vii] </p>

And yours did this:

<sup><p>This is a sentence[vii] </p><sup>

[WolfShade · Accepted solution]

Ah, I did misunderstand your request.

In FIND: (<\s*p[^>]*>[^<]*)(\[\w+\]\s*)(<\s*\/\s*p\s*>)

In REPLACE: $1^$2$3

HTH,

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[WolfShade]

I had to scoot, quickly, after posting my correction.  Just following up.  Did my correction work, for you?

V/r,

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[ThomasLLL]

Wolf, Thanks so much for your continued help and following up. 

The RegEx you sent wasn't working for me.   So I started playing around with yours and I got closer.

For Find, I am using this:   (\[.*\])

For Replace, I use this:  ^$1

The simplified Find works in many cases, except for one complication that is killing me!!

If a footnote appears as the only footnote in a paragraph, my Find and Replace work perfectly.

Example:   <p>This is a sentence[vii] </p>

That works great.  When I click "Find" it highlights the proper text (in bold below).  This is exactly what I want!  So far, so good:

<p>This is a sentence[vii] </p>

But, if two or more footnotes appear in the same <p> tag, then my Find syntax isn't working.

Example:

<p>This is sentence one.[vii]  This is another sentence within the same p-tag. [viii]  This is another sentence within the same p-tag. [ix]</p>

I want the FIND part to find [vii] and [viii] and [ix] as three separate finds.

Instead my find yields this: 

<p>This is sentence one.[vii]  This is another sentence within the same p-tag. [viii]  This is another sentence within the same p-tag.  [ix]</p>

I'm trying to end the "Find" part immediately after each ], but it's only working when there's one footnote in a p-tag.

[ThomasLLL]

Got it !     For Find, I had to adjust it to this:   

(\[.*?\])

Thanks so much Wolf.  Couldn't have done it without you.   I have about 40 documents with dozens and dozens of footniotes each, so that why I didn't give up to easily !

[WolfShade]

Glad you got that fixed.  Didn't even think that there would be more than one footnote in a paragraph.  I get tunnel-vision, sometimes.

V/r,

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[B i r n o u]

probably that you already know and use it, but one have a wonderfull tool on line that can be really helfull to adjust the expression

https://regex101.com/

[WolfShade]

I just tested it.  It works in DW CC 2016.

V/r,

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