RegEx to find first Tab in each line in a block of text

Question

Hi all and thanks in advance,

I need a regex that will land me on the first tab in each line.

For instance

Romania RO  ROU 642
Russian Federation  RU  RUS 643
Rwanda  RW  RWA 646
Saint Barthelemy    BL  BLM 652

Should be parsed like this

Romania[*]  RO  ROU 642
Russian Federation[*]   RU  RUS 643
Rwanda[*]   RW  RWA 646
Saint Barthelemy[*] BL  BLM 652

all other tabs in the same line should be ignored.

Answer 1

Try this but ensure to set a Multi-line option in whichever language you are using:

^[^\t]*(\t{1}).*$

Answer 2

Here you go

Pattern

(^.*?)(\t)

Replace with

$1[*]$2

Use the modifier that lets ^ and $ match at line breaks.

Let me know if you got any more questions.

Regards, Tom