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General Regex Templates Guide

The built-in Regex Templates in PDF Manager’s Search & Replace tool let you apply powerful renaming patterns instantly — no need to memorize syntax.

You can use templates:

  • Standalone — apply one rule to quickly reformat files.
  • In sequence — stack multiple templates for complex restructuring.

🛠 How to use a template​

  1. Open Search & Replace.
  2. Click Show Templates.
  3. Select a template from the dropdown.
  4. The search and replace fields will be pre-filled.
  5. Review the preview table for changes.

📂 Available Templates​

📆 Date Conversion 1 — 6-digit dates
Search
(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})
Replace
$2$120$3
$1$2$3match
Before
Dinosaurs are cool Ep No. 010225
After
Dinosaurs are cool Ep No. 02012025

When to use: Dates in ddmmyy or mmddyy format where you need to swap day/month and expand the year.

📆 Date Conversion 2 — 8-digit dates
Search
(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{4})
Replace
$2$1$3
$1$2$3match
Before
Words are weird Ep No. 01142025
After
Words are weird Ep No. 14012025
Works only with exactly 8 digits; keeps the full 4-digit year.

When to use: Dates in ddmmyyyy or mmddyyyy format where you need to swap day/month.

🆔 Add "Ep No."
Search
(\d+)$
Replace
Ep No. $1
$1match
Before
Oops, I Did It Again 1001
After
Oops, I Did It Again Ep No. 1001
Matches on the final numeric sequence in the filename; useful for files that already have partial episode numbers in the filename.
🔀 Reorder Tokens
Search
^(.+)\s\-\s(.+)\s\-\s(.+)$
Replace
$1 $3 Ep No. $2
$1$2$3match
Before
THIS SHOW - 101 - Exists Probably
After
THIS SHOW   Exists Probably  Ep No. 101
Inserts three spaces before episode title and two spaces before "Ep No." (to match cue-sheet delimiter rules); useful for files exported from Soundmouse.

When to use: Files follow a Prod - EpisodeNum - EpisodeTitle format and need to be rearranged for cue-sheet conventions.

0️⃣ Zero Pad Episode Suffix
Search
(\d{2}$)
Replace
0$1
$1match
Before
What is a number 101
After
What is a number 1001
Works only when the last two characters in the filename are numbers; change the pad value or count by changing "0" in the replace bar.

When to use: Episode numbers have only three digits and must be padded to four.

🔗 Stacking templates for more power​

You can chain templates together to transform filenames in a single pass.
The order matters — earlier rules affect later ones.

Example stack:

  1. Reorder Tokens
  2. Zero Pad Episode Suffix
  3. Cue Sheet T1
Before: mary had a little lamb - 101 - and no one talks about it
After:  MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB   And No One Talks. . .  Ep No. 1001

💡 Common regex symbols (JavaScript)​

  • . — any single character except newlines (unless s flag is on); a.c matches abc or a-c.
  • * — 0 or more of the previous token; ab* matches a, ab, abbb.
  • + — 1 or more of the previous token; \d+ matches 7 or 123.
  • ? — 0 or 1 of the previous token (makes it optional); colou?r matches color or colour.
  • {n} — exactly n repeats; {n,} — n or more; {n,m} — between n and m; \d{4} matches 2025.
  • ^ — start of string/line; $ — end of string/line; ^Intro matches only if the line starts with Intro.
  • \d digit, \w word character (letters/numbers/underscore), \s whitespace; \w+\s\w+ matches two words.
  • [abc] any of these characters; [a-z] ranges; [^...] negated class; [^0-9]+ matches non-digits.
  • | alternation (OR) between patterns; cat|dog matches cat or dog.
  • () capturing group; (?:) non-capturing group; (ep)\s(\d+) captures ep and the number.
  • (?=...) positive lookahead; (?!...) negative lookahead; \d(?=pm) matches digits before pm.
  • \b word boundary; \B non-boundary; \bcat\b matches whole word cat.
  • Escape special characters with \ like \. or \+ to match them literally; v1\.2 matches v1.2.

If you need a new preset template, reach out via the TūlBOX support links!