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I want to replace characters between fixed positions on each line of text. For example, in the following lines, I want to replace charcacters 5th trough 8th with YYYY.

Given this:
23 aad sssxxxx
faf ffee sscc ee67y
sss xees kkkpa

I neeed this:
23 aYYYYssxxxx
faf fYYYYsscc ee67y
sss YYYY kkkpa

I tried [b]^.\{5,8\}[/b] for a search RE, but it is obviously wrong. Help!!!!

This works for me to replace chars 5-8:
Search for: ^(.{4}).{4}
Replace with: \1YYYY

Given this:
23 aad sssxxxx
faf ffee sscc ee67y
sss xees kkkpa

Results in this:
23 aYYYYssxxxx
faf YYYY sscc ee67y
sss YYYY kkkpa

But, in your example, the second line is not replacing chars 5-8, is that a typo or is your explanatioin in error?
You have: faf fYYYYsscc ee67y

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Use the following settings:
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[X] Regular expression
Replace All
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Configure | Preferences | Editor
[X] Use POSIX regular expression syntax
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Bob,
You are correct, I left one character out in the output example. I hope you can suggest a RE that I can use, in spite of my typo.

Thanks,
Mike

He did. Have another look.

Bob and Ben,

Your solution works great. Thanks!!!!!

Mike