Hi gem,

If you want to use the pattern above you need to correct your regular expression.

you are matching: 

<a  # begin anchor tag
\s  # followed by a space
\w* # followed by any number of alpha-numeric characters
    # this fails to match ["'=/:%?&] and probably many other potential
+ permissable chars in this context and so your regex fails here.
>   # end anchor tag
\w* # any text as long as it's all one word see above point you should
+ be matching any char which is not the beginning of a tag
<   # beginning of a new tag including an end of anchor

[download]
You are replacing your match with just an end of anchor tag, you need to capture what you match (possibly two distinct matches or a lookahead to check for end of anchor) and insert the end of anchor there.

You have the basis of a tolerable regex but it needs finishing.

Try and implement the above and let us know how you get on

In reply to Re: close end tag by Utilitarian
in thread close end tag by gem555

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