Find & Replace – another problem variant

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I’ve reviewed previous find and replace topics but I can’t seem to make an expression work for this particular problem:

I’ve a document where some formatting is corrupt (it was a translation from a PDF).

There is a date field  eg 02/04/1954 is concenated with the next line that starts with a time eg 0745.   So the line ends up with 02/04/19540745 stuck in the middle of it.

I’d like to change it to 02/04/1954^p0745  (in essence, you know what I mean).   I’ve tried searching using wildcards for the format xx/xx/xxxxxxxx which is adequately specific but I cannot seem to get it recognized.

Any advice what a suitable fine/replace expression would be?

Thanks Richard

 

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There is probably formatting you have missed from the search.
Try copying the data and pasting it into the search box to pick up the formatting.
Or view the formatting: https://www.online-tech-tips.com/ms-office-tips/show-reveal-formatting-in-word/

cheers, Paul

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Hi Richard. Your comment about “searching using wildcards” indicates you’re probably using Word, so maybe try something like this on a copy of your document…

Press CtrlH to open “Replace” tab on “Find and Replace” box

Click More>> button (lower left corner of box)

Check “Use wildcards” checkbox

Then try using this as Find string:
([0-9]{2}/[0-9]{2})/([0-9]{4})([0-9]{4})

And this as Replace string:
\1/\2^p\3

Above strings seemed to test successfully in Office 2016.

Hope this helps.

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I’d suggest a wildcard Find/Replace, with:

Find = ([0-9]{1,2}/[0-9]{,12}/[0-9]{4})([0-9])

Replace = \1^p\2

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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