Olena Polissky 

Why don't you include them in the tag? 

Start tag: (?:\+\s)?\[

End tag: (?:\])(\s\+)?

I made the plus symbols optional in case you didn't always get the plus signs in this string.

Hi Paul,

I just tried it and it worked. Thank you!

There are also many '=*' in the files. How can I exclude those?

I feel that I need to know the programming language to set up those regex, which I do not. Is there a list of all the regex available somewhere that can be used for reference?

Thank you!

Olena Polissky 

If it's '=*' meaning just =* then use a placeholder as opposed to a tag pair and just use this:

=\*

A star has a special purpose in regex so you have to escape it with the backslash when you actually need to find it.  In .NET (or C#) regular expressions (which is the flavour Trados Studio uses), the star symbol (*) is a quantifier that matches the preceding element zero or more times.  This means that the element before the * can appear any number of times, including not at all.

Olena Polissky said:

I feel that I need to know the programming language to set up those regex, which I do not. Is there a list of all the regex available somewhere that can be used for reference?

Regex, short for regular expressions, is not typically described as a programming language.  It's just a powerful tool, or a form of syntax used for matching patterns within strings.  There are many free tutorials on the internet that are helpful for this as it's a syntax used in many many types of software including decent text editors like Notepad++ for example.  But here's a few to help you get started:

Tutorials

https://www.regular-expressions.info/

https://regexone.com/

Testers

Paid for: https://www.regexbuddy.com/

Free: https://regex101.com/

Studio Related

https://multifarious.filkin.com/tag/regex-tutorial/

https://www.web-translations.com/blog/regular-expressions/

https://noradiaz.blogspot.com/2019/10/regular-expressions-for-translators_24.html

Probably many more if you search around.  There was a book written by a regular contributor to this forum and I was sure it used to be on the appstore.  But I cannot find it... perhaps someone will see this and point to it!  I think that could also be quite helpful.

Paul said:

Probably many more if you search around.  There was a book written by a regular contributor to this forum and I was sure it used to be on the appstore.  But I cannot find it... perhaps someone will see this and point to it!  I think that could also be quite helpful.

 Olena Polissky 

There are even two of those: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B086WB13WD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

www.amazon.de/.../ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

Hi Paul,

I tried the placeholder =\*, but unfortunately, it didn't show any difference.

Is there another way to exclude those?

Also, some '+' signs are not part of the placeholder in the square brackets; is it possible to exclude these as well?

Thank you for the links as well, I'll make sure to check them out.

Thanks Jerzy Czopik .  Do you have them?

I only ever had one book on regular expressions... the bible :-)

https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/regular-expressions-cookbook/9781449327453/

Brilliant resource, and also from the developer of RegexBuddy and EditPadPro.  But if I'm honest, whilst I used this a lot a decade or so ago I find there are easier ways to solve tricky regex problems using online resources these days.  CHatGPT being one of them... recent updates are making it better and better!

Olena Polissky 

Perhaps you would do better to share a couple of real strings?  That way we can be sure we're providing you with the appropriate help.

 Paul 

I have bought both, but did not yet read any of these. And the best way to get a good regex solution is to ask some Paul Filkin or develop this with own means.

From what I see above you have already excluded the content in []. To exclude conten in +[]+ I would use \+\[[^]]*?\]\+

But I'm on an ICE train and not sure if I got your question right.

Hi Paul,

Yes, of course.

Here is the string with a '+' sign tat is not before/after the square brackets.

you have reached + your charging station + [chargingstation_address] + in + [parent_poi_name]

These two strings show in the Excel file as follows:

 The same strings showing in Studio Editor (with added '=*'

Olena Polissky 

\+\s?\[[^]]*?\]\s?\+