XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11, alt.comp.microsoft.windows   
   From: marianjones@helpfulpeople.com   
      
   R.Wieser wrote:   
   > "a metal firecracker" -> "a mental firecracker"  Though the first one is   
   > also true. :-D   
      
   I copy and paste from a variety of sources all day, every day, whether I'm   
   writing batch scripts or a Usenet post or a web page reference, etc.   
      
   It's crazy to have all sorts of hidden characters in some chunks, and curly   
   quotes in others, em dashes still in others, mixed in with regular dashes.   
      
   My solution is simply to paste into Notepad++ from that variety of original   
   sources, and before editing, I convert all the hidden stuff like   
   non-breaking hyphens and zero-width spaces to simple plain keyboard ASCII.   
      
   Then I edit in my $EDITOR of choice, which happens to be gVim on Windows.   
      
   Since I combine various source references a hundred times a day, I use the   
   Notepad++ macro a hundred times a day - so - if you have a *better*   
   solution, help all of us by explaining what solution you found that's   
   better.   
      
   I, for one, would love to know your solution which is better'n mine.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)