Add space after/before parentheses without changing the rest

[Guy]

Hi,

I have many folders in Windows with names and then parentheses, the date, and again closed parenthesis, like below:

A (1999)
B (2005)
C (1987)
D (1956)
and so on,....and now I'd like to add a "space" after and before those "parentheses to be like these:

A ( 1999 )
B ( 2005 )
C ( 1987 )
D ( 1956 )

But among those folders, some folders have spaces before their parentheses and applied before, so they shouldn't be affected, just need spaces for those that haven't spaces after and before parentheses.

[Luuk]

With RegEx(1) having a checkmark for "v2", the "Match" and "Replace" can be like...
^(.+ \()(19\d\d|20\d\d)(\))$
$1 $2 $3

If the folder-names only have 1-english uppercase letter before (year)...
^([A-Z] \()(19\d\d|20\d\d)(\))$
$1 $2 $3

[Guy]

With RegEx(1) having a checkmark for "v2", the "Match" and "Replace" can be like...
^(.+ \()(19\d\d|20\d\d)(\))$
$1 $2 $3

Great job Luuk, it works well and renamed them immediately as wished!

[therube]

If you know that your names only contain "years" within parenthesis (rather then some random data - like (random data) within parenthesis), then you can use something like:

3:Replace

Code: Select all

Match:  (|)
Replace:  ( | )


The | is an OR, so match will find, "(" OR ")" & with that, you're replacing any "(" with "( " and any ")" with " )".

[Guy]

If you know that your names only contain "years" within parenthesis (rather then some random data - like (random data) within parenthesis), then you can use something like:

3:Replace

Code: Select all

Match:  (|)
Replace:  ( | )


The | is an OR, so match will find, "(" OR ")" & with that, you're replacing any "(" with "( " and any ")" with " )".

Cool, didn't know 3:Replace section can do that with simple "|" character! Thank you bro.