Can't Search and replace Regex

[Blaineoreski]

Hi,

Using Calibre's Editor I can see the following code:

<p class="noindent"><span class="txbdit">SOME TEXT</span>

I want to change all instances to h4

<h4>SOME TEXT</h4>

I've used

Mode: Regex Wrap checked, Dot all, checked

It keeps saying, "0 Replacements"

I've tried the following syntaxes:

<p class="noindent"><span class="txbdit">(.*?)</span>

<h4>$1</h4>


<p class="noindent"><span class="txbdit">.*?</span>

<h4>$1</h4>


AS WELL AS
<p\s+class="noindent"><span\s+class="txbdit">.*? </span>

<p\s*class="noindent"\s*><span\s*class="txbdit"\s* >.*?</span>


INTERESTINGLY
I cannot search or replace even

<p>
<h4>

But, searching and replacing for

<p class="noindent">
Pericles

Works.

What do you think is happening?

https://ibb.co/Lkj9KKN

[enuddleyarbl]

To me, the error implies a problem with the Search phrase. But, the thing that hits me is in the replacement string. Instead of:

<h4>$1</h4>

use:

<h4>\1</h4>

Calibre's Editor (which uses the Python flavor or regex) uses \ instead of $ for replacement groups.

EDIT: In the Search phrase, I'd also try .+? instead of .*?. According to:

https://regex101.com/

.*? means:

"1st Capturing Group (.*?)
. matches any character (except for line terminators)
*? matches the previous token between zero and unlimited times, as few times as possible, expanding as needed (lazy)"

and

.+? means

"1st Capturing Group (.+?)
. matches any character (except for line terminators)
+? matches the previous token between one and unlimited times, as few times as possible, expanding as needed (lazy)"

The difference being the lower number of matches (0 vs 1).

[Blaineoreski]

Boom! Perfect! Worked like a CHARM! Can't thank you enough. ))!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DyckBook]

In order to avoid accidently capturing too much in the search I would replace (.*?) with ([^<]*) This will select only up to, but not including, the following </span> tag.