@Scott-Nielson @guy038 has given a good explanation of the (*SKIP)(*FAIL) method at https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/26812/generic-regex-how-to-use-the-couple-of-backtracking-control-verbs-skip-fail-or-skip-f-in-regexes/5 - in fact I recommend everyone who lands on this page after searching online, to read that explanation and understand it!