[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Use a macro containing the following code:

Dim srange As Range
Selection.HomeKey wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
Do While .Execute(FindText:="Q[0-9]{1,}", MatchWildcards:=True, _
MatchCase:=False, Wrap:=wdFindStop, Forward:=True) = True
Set srange = Selection.Range.Duplicate
Selection.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
Selection.MoveRight wdCharacter, 1
srange.Text = "Q" & (Mid(srange.Text, 2) - 2)
Loop
End With


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Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

"sparks" wrote in message
...
I have to take a ton of variables and change the names..
Luck has it that they are formatted the same

Q9BOB
Q10Carl
Q11DOB
Q12RACE
.
.
.
Q149Pre

the thing is I have to rename them all and reduce the value by 2.
Q7BOB
Q8Carl
Q9DOB
Q10RACE
.
.
.
Q147Pre


Should I be looking for Numeric or chr substrings to identify what is
the number in the variable name that I have to subtract
is there a command in the mid statement to find the first chr after a
number or how should I go about parsing out the number making sure to
get the correct amount of numerics.

I assume it will always be mid(1, to take care of the Q but length of
the numerics.
Should I look for ascii values and find out when the next one is over
57 then I am at the end of the numeric sequence.

thank you from a very confused persion...I have all the tools but not
sure how to put it together