*s and @s and shortcuts
 

I use OpenDNS shortcuts, which are basically like OW shortcuts — type "wapo" and the DNS service can send you to the Washington Post web site — except that they work network-wide. So I have modified the first entry in the shortcut list so that the keyword is "*" and the URL "http://%@/". So far, so good.

But now I want to get back some of that www-adding functionality by having OW convert "foo.c" into "http://www.foo.com". (I'll add others for turning "foo.n" into http://www.foo.net", etc.)

I just can't make this work. I keep getting an error sound when I put "*.c" or "@.c" in the keyword field and then switch fields, and the changes won't stick after I'm done editing the shortcut. (The URL I've entered is "http://www.%@.com/".)

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

What about a search shortcut that looks something like this:

[ATTACH]516[/ATTACH]

You would have to type c theDomain

Thanks — that works. Still, I'm less likely to take advantage of a shortcut of this kind if I have to remember to start with the shortcut "identifier."

Also, it just plain bugs me that I can't figure out what the rules for this are and why I keep getting errors when I try to do it "my" way. But maybe I should get a therapist for that. :)

I got a sense from reading another thread that the first shortcut, the one with the "*", is special somehow. Maybe that's why I can't make use of that symbol in my own shortcut?

Finally: OW has RegEx in the Find box — would there be any reason not to make RegEx replacements a per-shortcut option in a future release?

The * shortcut is special in that it has to always exist. I'll file a request for allowing one to build shortcuts using the wildcard and possibly other regex special characters, it seems like a reasonable thing to do.