◊ LEADING CHARS may be ignored, removed, replaced, or inserted at the beginning of each line.
The character string used for this defaults to a single space, but can be redefined by choosing the Edit [String]… item in the pop-up menu. Like the replacement strings in the Replacement Strings window, characters may be entered by keyboard or clipboard, or as ASCII character codes. This string is limited to 32 characters.
When stripping or replacing with a tab, the string is repeatedly compared with the start of the line until there is no match, so that a single space can remove or replace all leading spaces. Likewise, a single period could serve for leader dots.
White space, which A/S defines as spaces, tabs, and option-spaces, can also be removed or replaced with the contents of the leading string.
◊ CASE may be ignored, ALL characters converted to upper or lower case, or the FIRST LETTER of words, sentences, or lines capitalized. Lines are defined as characters preceding (but not including) a carriage return character.
Force Words and Force Sentences and Force Lines capitalize words or sentences and force all but the first letter to lower case. Determination of sentences is pretty good, but is NOT infallible.
◊ QUOTES & APOSTROPHES may be ignored, curled (converted to “”, ‘’, or ’), or uncurled (converted to "", '', or '). Typically, uncurl is used if the document is not going to be used on a Macintosh.
A/S expects that quotes and apostrophes will be the first or last character in a line or will have one or more spaces before or after them. Those that do not meet this criterion may be improperly curled.
If the Count quotes checkbox is selected in the Preferences window, A/S counts quotation marks but not apostrophes, when curling and uncurling. A warning is displayed after processing a file if the number of opening and closing quotation marks are not equal.
If the Don’t curl after numbers checkbox is selected in the Preferences window, A/S will not curl any apostrophe or quotation marks that are preceded by numbers, such as those typically used to show feet and inch measurements.
◊ MAXIMUM CONSECUTIVE BLANK LINES may be ignored, or limited to 0, 1, 2, or 3 lines.
