i have a string that contains 3 characters that vary, it looks like this: board=XYZ

note: sometimes X=Y, or Y=Z (they can be either a letter or a number). thus, sometimes the string will read like this: board=K66.

what i want to do, is to find every instance where the variable pattern looks like "XYY" and switch the order to be "YYX". can emeditor do this using the regular expression function? or can it only be done via script/macro?

Hello hydra,

In the Replace dialog box, you can use replace

=(\w)(\w\w)

with

=\2\1

and check Use Regular Expressions.

Please let me know if you have further questions.
Thank you!

----------------
Yutaka Emura
Developer of EmEditor
http://www.emeditor.com/

hi yutaka,

thx for the quick reply, however it doesnt do what i need it to do. allow me to explain:

1. when the pattern "board=XYY" is found, i need it to be changed to "board=YYX". your above suggestion does this. so far so good.

2. BUT, when the pattern XXY is found, i want it to do nothing! your above suggestion changes all instances of XXY into XYX. this is something i must avoid.

is there any expression that can do both #1 while avoiding #2?

if the regular expression function cant do this, can u write a simple script/macro that does this for me?

Try searching for

and replace with

jibz,

such an elegant solution! thank u so much!

That's an excellent solution. Thnaks jibz!

----------------
Yutaka Emura
Developer of EmEditor
http://www.emeditor.com/

Glad to hear it worked .