I am trying to reformat many huge documents and need to replace the "space"
that follows a four figure number with a tab mark without changing the four
figure number, or any subsequent space (none of which follow four figure
numbers until the next paragraph).

I cannot use the ^# symbol for "any digit" in the replace function.

How can I only change the one space for a tab in each paragraph? It is the
3rd space every time in pages of text like : "10 Nov 1788 JAMES Hemingway, of
Southo......"

In the Replace dialog, click the More button and check the box for "Use
wildcards".

In the Find What box, enter the expression

([0-9]{4})

and type a space character after the closing parenthesis.

In the Replace With box, enter the expression

\1^t

Click the Replace All button.

The search expression says "find any sequence of four characters in the
group from 0 through 9, followed by a space". The parentheses indicate that
the four digits form a group. The replacement expression says "replace the
found expression by the found group in parentheses, followed by a tab
character".

For more information on wildcard searches, see
http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
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Maurice wrote:
> I am trying to reformat many huge documents and need to replace the
> "space" that follows a four figure number with a tab mark without
> changing the four figure number, or any subsequent space (none of
> which follow four figure numbers until the next paragraph).
>
> I cannot use the ^# symbol for "any digit" in the replace function.
>
> How can I only change the one space for a tab in each paragraph? It
> is the 3rd space every time in pages of text like : "10 Nov 1788
> JAMES Hemingway, of Southo......"