Just for the record,
DD's suggestion is closest to what I've done in the past... the only difference being in the symbol i used as a replacement (the
fleur de lis instead of the "_@"). the reason i didn't include any other examples is becuase i thought that saying I want to exclude all instances of a bullet when it appears like this:
Code:
<p class="calibre1">•</p>
while matching all other instances of a bullet was the least redundant, most clear way of saying it. "Match everything but this" is as simple a explanation as I can come up with. There is an infinitude of possible matches that i'd accept, so coming up with positive examples seemed counter productive.
In any case, I thought I'd float it here and see if anyone bit. I've run into the problem more than once in the past, and knew I'd basically totally played out my own knowledge of reg-ex. I really do appreciate you all rolling it around and giving it the old college try.
PS -
@Tex: as always i especially appreciate your breaking down your thought process and compartmentalizing the behavioral characteristics of your regex. Frankly, it's the other reason I posted my question: I've come to realize that whether or not I get the specific answer I'm looking for, I'll always come out of the thread knowing more about reg-ex than i did going into it.