Word VBA discrepancy between Instr() actual starting position of a string - vba

Question

I am using regex to find all pattern matches in a Word doc, which I will then manipulate.
The file I'm searching is ~330 pages long and includes copy/pasted emails. My problem is that when I use InStr(startPos, objRange.Text, match.submatches(0)) to find the starting position of each match, the result is actually offset by some amount. For the document in its original state, that offset happened to be 324 characters.
On a hunch, I decided to remove all the hyperlinks in the document to see what that would do. The RemoveHyperlinks sub found and removed 24 hyperlinks, after which the Instr() return value was off by only 20 characters (so that subtracting the magic number matchStart = matchStart - 1 - 20 gives the correct starting position). Obviously I want to avoid all magic numbers, but I cannot figure out where the last 20 characters are coming from.
I tried unlinking all fields, but there weren't any to unlink after the hyperlinks were removed.
Any thoughts on why
matchStart = InStr(startPos, objRange.Text, match.submatches(0))
matchEnd = matchStart + Len(match.submatches(0))
Set subRange0 = objDoc.Range(matchStart, matchEnd)
give me subRange0.Text different from match.submatches(0)? Or where the other hidden characters may be found (to be removed)?
Sub FixHighlightedText()
Dim objDoc As Document
Dim objRange As Range, subRange0 As Range
Dim matchStart As Long, matchEnd As Long, startPos As Long
Dim regex As Object
Dim matches
Set objDoc = ActiveDocument
Set objRange = objDoc.Range(0, objDoc.Content.End)
startPos = 1
Set regex = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
Call RemoveHyperlinks
With regex
.Pattern = "((\([a-zA-Z]*?[-]?Time:.*?\})[a-zA-Z0-9]{0,3})"
.Global = True
End With
If regex.test(objRange.Text) Then
Set matches = regex.Execute(objRange.Text)
Debug.Print "Document has " & matches.Count & " matches"
Debug.Print "Document range is " & objRange.Start & " to " & objRange.End
Debug.Print "FirstIndex = " & matches(0).FirstIndex
For Each match In matches
matchStart = InStr(startPos, objRange.Text, match.submatches(0))
startPos = matchStart + Len(match.submatches(0))
If matchStart > 0 Then
matchStart = matchStart - 1
matchEnd = matchStart + Len(match.submatches(0))
Set subRange0 = objDoc.Range(matchStart, matchEnd)
Debug.Print "Match starts at " & matchStart & " and ends at " & (matchStart + Len(match.submatches(1)))
Debug.Print " match0 text = " & match.submatches(0)
Debug.Print " subrange0 text = " & subRange0.Text
Else
Debug.Print "Match mysteriously not found in text"
End If
Next match
Else
Debug.Print "No regex matches"
End If
End Sub
Sub RemoveHyperlinks()
Dim link, cnt As Long, linkRange As Range, i As Long
cnt = 0
For i = ActiveDocument.Hyperlinks.Count To 1 Step -1
With ActiveDocument.Hyperlinks(i)
.TextToDisplay = .TextToDisplay & " (" & .Address & ")"
Set linkRange = .Range
End With
ActiveDocument.Hyperlinks(i).Delete
With linkRange.Font
.Underline = wdUnderlineNone
.ColorIndex = wdAuto
End With
cnt = cnt + 1
Next i
Debug.Print "Removed " & cnt & " link(s)"
End Sub
Sub RemoveFields()
Dim cnt As Long, i As Long
cnt = 0
For i = ActiveDocument.Fields.Count To 1 Step -1
ActiveDocument.Fields(i).Unlink
cnt = cnt + 1
Next i
Debug.Print "Removed " & cnt & " field(s)"
End Sub

Answer 1

I ended up finding the hint to my answer in the selected answer to this question: vbscript: replace text in activedocument with hyperlink.
Essentially, Instr() does not play well with the WYSIWYG feature of Word, but the Find method will give selections with the proper ranges. No need to remove hyperlinks nor worry about other mysterious, hidden text.
The code would look like:
Sub FixHighlightedText()
Dim objDoc As Document
Dim objRange As Range
Dim startPos As Long
Dim regex As Object
Dim matches
Set objDoc = ActiveDocument
Set objRange = objDoc.Range
startPos = 1
Set regex = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
With regex
.Pattern = "((\([a-zA-Z]*?[-]?Time:.*?\})[a-zA-Z0-9]{0,3})"
.Global = True
End With
If regex.test(objRange.Text) Then
Set matches = regex.Execute(objRange.Text)
Debug.Print "Document has " & matches.Count & " matches"
Debug.Print "Document range is " & objRange.Start & " to " & objRange.End
Debug.Print "FirstIndex = " & matches(0).FirstIndex
For Each match In matches
Set objRange = objDoc.Range(startPos, objDoc.Content.End)
With objRange.Find
.Text = match.submatches(0)
.MatchWholeWord = True
.MatchCase = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Execute
End With
startPos = objRange.End
Debug.Print "Match starts at " & objRange.Start & " and ends at " & objRange.End
Debug.Print " match0 text = " & match.submatches(0)
Debug.Print " subrange text = " & objRange.Text
Next match
Else
Debug.Print "No regex matches"
End If
End Sub