Thank you again for very clear explanations and suggestions which I will take away and try out. With luck this will not result in another post by way of a cry for help.

I take your and diotalevi's point about the length of the post. As I was typing I kept thinking "this is getting too long." I should have split it in two. But I am also aware of the number of posts where not enough information is given and Monks are left guessing what the problem might be.

Anyway, thanks again,

JohnGG

In reply to Re^2: Recursive regular expression weirdness by johngg
in thread Recursive regular expression weirdness by johngg

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