note thezip <p>Please correct me if I am wrong (or if I misunderstood your statement), but there is nothing in OP's regex that restricts a match to the beginning of a line. Hence, the eight consecutive characters may appear anywhere on a line. Right?</p> <!-- Node text goes above. Div tags should contain sig only --> <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-212789"> <br> <i>What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. - Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011</i> </div></div> 987226 987228