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I HAVE THIS
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Dim x: asdfasdfasdf
Dim y: rwefnmwlkej

I WANT THIS
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[Dim x:] asdfasdfasdf
[Dim y:] rwefnmwlkej

THIS IS WANT I USED
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Find What: D[^()]*:
Replace: [\1]

THIS IS WHAT I GET
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[\1]asdfasdfasdf
[\1]rwefnmwlkej

What am I doing wrong?

The \1 in your replacement expression doesn't refer tio anything, as there are no capturing parentheses in your regular expression.

Either use \0, which refers to the entire text that was matched:

Find what: D[^()]*:
Replace with: [\0]

[X] Regular expression

or insert some capturing parentheses:

Find what: (D[^()]*:)
Replace with: [\1]

[X] Regular expression

This assumes you are using Posix regular expression syntax:

Configure | Preferences | Editor

[X] Use POSIX regular expression syntax

Thank you! One change I had to make was to remove the square brackets. i.e. \1 workes but [\1] does not. Can you explain that?

No I can't. It does what you asked for. In what way does it not work?