Thanks very much to all of you who answered. You guys are awesome. I chose Athanasius's answer and everything I anticipated yesterday worked with this solution but there are a few more use cases that came up. Athanasius, While I'm still learning, do you mind updating code for the following additional cases: 1) Input: AB AL0024 Output with code provided: AB- Desired output: AB-AL0024 (if the year is missing, then is it possible to add a dash?) 2) Input: DRSVA 1994 K-2 Output with code provided: DRSVA94- K-2 Desired Output: DRSVA94-K-2 (spaces are not allowed in the output) 3) Input: PUN VALEY B Output with code provided: PUN-VALEY B Desired output: PUN-VALEYB (spaces are not allowed in the output) 4)Input: TIBET 2015 Output with code provided: TIBET15- Desired output: TIBET15 (is it possible to avoid dashes if nothing follows it?) The original cases were critical and these are special cases which will appear rarely if at all but I just wanted to code for it just in case. Let me know if this is possible. Thanks

In reply to Re^2: reg expression question by healingtao
in thread reg expression question by healingtao

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