A word processor program features a search and replace function. However, partial words (character combinations found within words) are also replaced. To fix this, I plan to remove extra spaces and use the split function to change the string into an array of words by using ” ” as a delimiter.
However, once I search through the array, replace the appropriate words, and put the array back into a string separated by spaces, the original formatting of the user will be lost. For example, if the original string was “This is a sentence.” and the user wanted “a” to be replaced with “the”, the output will be “This is the sentence.”, with no additional spaces.
So, my question is whether there is any way to search and replace entire words only while still preserving the formatting (extra spaces) of the user in Visual Basic.
If you use the Split function without removing your extra spaces first your array will have empty items in it so you would not lose the extra spaces and can reconstruct your document with the original formatting in tact.