# How to match multiple instances in the source

**URL:** <https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-match-multiple-instances-in-the-source/349>\
**Category:** Technical Support\
**Created:** [April 8, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-match-multiple-instances-in-the-source/349 "2018-04-08T21:11:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ivaylo](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/ivaylo/32/14_2.png) [@ivaylo](https://forum.xbench.net/u/ivaylo)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-match-multiple-instances-in-the-source/349/1 "2018-04-08T21:11:15Z")

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Hello,

I try to ensure that all placeables in square brackets are left untranslated.

Test:  
Source: [years] years, [months] months, [days] days  
Target: [years] години, [months] месеца, [days] дни

I use the following regex powersearch search:  
Source: “([([^[]]\*)])=1”  
Target: -"@1"

The search matches the first instance only ("[years]" in my example) and ignores the rest. If there’s an error in the second or third placeable ([months] or [days]), they cannot be caught.

Is there a solution for this?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pcondal](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.xbench.net/pcondal/32/305_2.png) [@pcondal](https://forum.xbench.net/u/pcondal)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-match-multiple-instances-in-the-source/349/2 "2018-04-09T18:45:15Z")

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You can concatenate several variables (`@1`, `@2`, etc) but it is a bit elaborate and may miss some edge cases.

Perhaps I would recommend instead the workaround to create a dummy file with tags [suggested here](http://forum.xbench.net/t/how-to-match-a-particular-word-except-for-occurrences-in-square-brackets/350/2?u=pcondal).