Regex Replacement Using a Drop-Down Menu (use image as refrence)

The following list is what you'll use to create all the options for your select:

AL Alabama

AK Alaska

AZ Arizona

AR Arkansas

CA California

CO Colorado

CT Connecticut

DE Delaware

FL Florida

GA Georgia

HI Hawaii

ID Idaho

IL Illinois

IN Indiana

IA Iowa

KS Kansas

KY Kentucky

LA Louisiana

ME Maine

MD Maryland

MA Massachusetts

MI Michigan

MN Minnesota

MS Mississippi

MO Missouri

MT Montana

NE Nebraska

NV Nevada

NH New Hampshire

NJ New Jersey

NM New Mexico

NY New York

NC North Carolina

ND North Dakota

OH Ohio

OK Oklahoma

OR Oregon

PA Pennsylvania

RI Rhode Island

SC South Carolina

SD South Dakota

TN Tennessee

TX Texas

UT Utah

VT Vermont

VA Virginia

WA Washington

WV West Virginia

WI Wisconsin

WY Wyoming

-----------------------

AB Alberta

BC British Columbia

MB Manitoba

NB New Brunswick

NL New Foundland

NS Nova Scotia

ON Ontario

PE Prince Edward Island

QC Quebec

SK Saskatchewan

1) Go to a scratch file

2) Paste in the list above

3) Ignore the SELECT and the group label USA.

4) The option tag needs a value for the server program: an ID that is unique and short... like the 2 letter abbreviation: "AL" for Alabama. We also need the text for people to read: such as the full name and abbreviation, as shown in the photo.

Example:

Alabama (AL)

5) Do a search and replace all which replaces each state listed into the HTML option we want to create. Two groups and back references will be required. Remember to use undo and find and replace 1 step at a time to make sure you've got it.

- Find 2 letter states 1st. find multiple times to make sure that works. group the 2 letters because you'll need them to replace later.

- Now find the state name as well. Using spaces is nice but Canada has a 3 word province. There are multiple ways to find the rest of the line. Once you get it matching each line when you find then you group the state/provice names with (). You'll now have 2 () you can reference. ..or maybe more () if you used them for your search.

- Replace. start just doing 1. and undoing it. make sure it works. the replace will be your HTML you used for Alabama. but replace the name with \1 and \2 (or $1 and $2.) Make sure it works. undo. then replace all. DONE! 60 in 1 move!

6) It is better to STRUCTURE the text for scanning by people looking for their state. Therefore, for better design, we want "AL Alabama" or "AL - Alabama" displayed to them so they can quickly scan down the list which will appear to have 2 columns due to the fact each state code is only 2 letters. Modify your replacement string and redo the search and replace again (you choose if you want a dash in there or not.

Choose Choose in USA Alabama (AL) Alaska (AK) Arizona (AZ) k. fo u Arkansas (AR) u Colorado (CO) rDelaware (DE) California (CA) Connecticut (CT) Florida (FL) Georgia (GA) Hawaii (HI) r Idaho (ID) Illinois (IL) Indiana (IN) lowa (IA) Kansas (KS) Kentucky (KY) Louisiana (LA)