GREP Bold first word if expression

[Nathan Rule]

I want to do a GREP to bold the first word of every paragraph IF the first word has a colon after it. 

Basically i dont want it to bold if there is no colon after the first word (if i could build it to only apply to the first two words even better)

Can this be done?

[Nathan Rule]

I tired this and i think it works

^\S+:

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

If you will only have one colon per paragraph, you could use GREP Style in the paragraph settings.

.*(?=:)

The code could be modified to stop at the first colon if necessary.

[pixxxelschubser]

I would prefer nested styles for that (Performance!).

But as GREP in paragraph style - try the following.

I don't know what exactly you want. Here are a few slightly different examples.

• (multiple) word(s) with formatting the colon

^[^:]+?:

• (multiple) word(s) without formatting the colon

^[^:]+?(?=:)

• one word (only letters) + colon

^[\l\u]+?:

• two words (only letters) + colon

^[\l\u]+?(\h[\l\u]+?)?:

If that works for you

have fun

😉

[Nathan Rule]

Awesome thanks, I have used paragraph styles and it worked mostly, however a few issues if not every paragraph has a colon it bolds the text till it finds one. i just wanted to add it to my main paragraph style so all text remains as is unless there is a colon after the firswt word then it wouold bold the first word. Thanks!

[pixxxelschubser]

… and it worked mostly, however a few issues if not every paragraph has a colon it bolds the text till it finds one …

By @Nathan Rule

That shouldn't happen.

Can you show a screenshot and the grep style please?

[FRIdNGE]

“... That happens all the time!”  😉

(^/)  The Jedi

[FRIdNGE]

Imho [… but it's just a personal comment!],

^[^:]+?:

doesn't seem to me a Grep syntax particularly relevant (":" double exlusion)!

^[^:]+:

or

^.+?:

(^/)

[Mike Witherell]

Don't do a GREP; do a nested style.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Unless I'm missing something (entirely possible), I don't think nested styles would work for paragraphs without colons. 

Nested style coding:

Grep coding (^.*?(:) 

[Nathan Rule]

Couldnt have done it better myslef. Exactly why i wanted a grep style.

[pixxxelschubser]

Remember the question:

I want to do a GREP to bold the first word of every paragraph IF the first word has a colon after it. 

Basically i dont want it to bold if there is no colon after the first word (if i could build it to only apply to the first two words even better)

Can this be done?

By @Nathan Rule

@Nathan Rule 

please give some concrete examples or better: a sample file for testing.

Otherwise everything is just a shot in the dark.