\_ The problem is motivated by Oracle's SQL*Loader utility.
\_ 
\_ Transform
\_  MAX_EXTENTS   INTEGER EXTERNAL,
\_ to
\_  MAX_EXTENTS   INTEGER EXTERNAL NULLIF MAX_EXTENTS=BLANKS,
\_ 
\_ In general terms this is roughly the RegExp (sub EMACS dialect)
\_ Transform
\_ \(^[ ]\)\(\w*\)(.*),
\_ to
\_ \N1\N2\N3 NULLIF \N2=BLANKS,


Hm, I don't use \N1 in my regexn targets, just \1, \2, etc

\(^[ ]\(\w*\).*\),

\1 NULLIF \2=BLANKS,

may do it for you; seemed to work locally (FSF) for me.

David