RTF and breaking it up

[badgers]

I have the following Rich text file

>076<
CONDUCTOR MATERIAL
>078<
COPPER
Conductors shall be copper (Cu), #10 AWG and smaller may
be either solid or stranded, #8 AWG and larger shall be
stranded.

Final connections to all motors and/or equipment subject
to vibrations or movement shall be made with stranded
copper conductors.
>080<
ALUMINUM
Stranded aluminum (Al) conductors may be substituted for
copper for feeders rated 150 amps and larger, except for
HVAC and diagnostic equipment (X-Ray, MRI, CT-Scanner,
etc) and if state and local codes, local inspection
authorities, and the local utility permit the use of
aluminum, and if approved by the BUILDER's Electrical
Engineer.

the >***< is a paragraph number/delimiter. The above is just a fraction of the entire file(there are 310 sections)
I have a program now that uses text files. I want to use a RTB because the indentations under copper and aluminum in a text file are simply spaces. When someone adds text to the file the returns and spaces mess up the formatting.
Lets say I select section >078<. How do I pull that out and the formatting? I will take these individual sections and place them into a composite RTB to compose the final document.
Is there a better way to allow a user to select a number of formatted sections?

[seaweed]

...your signature

correct spelling = skeptical

[badgers]

I don't know. I will have to check that spelling I am skeptical of other people

[badgers]

here is what I have come up with so far.

Option Explicit
Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long,_
ByVal wMsg As Long,ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
Const WM_COPY = &H301
Const WM_CUT = &H300
Const WM_PASTE = &H302
Dim section(350) As String ' this array will hold the specification 
'and will be available to all forms
'this project has 2 rich text boxes. RTB1 and RTB2. RTB1 is visable=false. 
'It holds the master specification file. RTB2 is the target and is also used
'as an intermediate storage/file manipulator
Private Sub CmdFLB_Click() 'Fill List Box, this is a very slow process I have about 300 paragraphs
Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Long
k = 1
RTB2.TextRTF = "" 'clear the text box
While k > 0 'k will become -1 at the end
    j = RTB1.Find("<", j) 'find the back end of the delimiter
    If j Then 'If I find the delimiter make  a new section
        k = RTB1.Find(">", j) 'k will be the begining of the next section(-1 if it is the end)
        If k > 1 Then 'check for the end
          RTB1.SelStart = j + 1 'give me the begining of the section
          RTB1.SelLength = k - j - 1 'get me to the end of the section
          SendMessage RTB1.hwnd, WM_COPY, 0, 0 'extract the rich text
          SendMessage RTB2.hwnd, WM_PASTE, 0, 0 'place it in RTB2
          section(i) = RTB2.TextRTF 'add the rich text to the array
          List1.AddItem (RTB2.Text) 'add ascii text to the list box headings
          i = i + 1 'bump the array counter
          j = k + 1 'move the start point  for the text search
          RTB2.TextRTF = "" 'clear RTB2 so I can start again
        End If
    End If
Wend
End Sub

Private Sub CmdMake_Click() 'make the final document in RTB2
Dim i As Long
RTB2.TextRTF = "" 'clear out the text box
For i = 0 To (List1.ListCount - 1) ' run through all the sections
    If (List1.Selected(i)) Then ' if the item is checked then find the corresponding array item
       Clipboard.Clear 'clear the clipboard
       Clipboard.SetText section(i), vbCFRTF 'put the array section on the clipboard
       RTB2.SelStart = Len(RTB2.TextRTF) 'set the text start point to the end
       SendMessage RTB2.hwnd, WM_PASTE, 0, 0 'put the new section on the end of the document
     End If
Next i
End Sub

In the CmdMake_click() sub I use the clipboard simply because I could not figure out how to make a direct insertion and maintain the formatting of the text. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them
also the CmdFLB_Click() sub is super slow for large files. I have 310 sections. this sub chuggs along and takes almost 20 sec to fill the list box.(the list box has style=checkbox).
The final program will run the code in CmdFLB_Click() just after form load(I need RTB1 to have the info). It is just on a command button for testing purposes.
any body have a faster way to sort through this stuff and pull out the text. My first post has an example of how the RTB1 text looks. This thing pulls out the >***< and keeps the text and the FORMATTING.
please help this thing technically works but it is very brute force. I need speed
thank you for your time and have a good day

[badgers]

Is there a way to by pass the clipboard?
Does anyone see a way to optimize the parsing of the file into the listbox?
thank you for your time and have a good day

[badgers]

I have the following question regarding Rich text files
When I parse the sections I end up with an extraneous return.
I would like to use the replace function to strip out the first return. When I use the VbCrLf constant I find nothing.
In the following text2 is a Rich Text Box(I know it sounds stupid)

Text2.TextRTF = Replace(Text2.TextRTF, vbCrLf, "", 1, 1)

the above finds zero, zip, nada.
what is the code for a paragraph marker in a Rich Text Box?
thank you for your time and have a good day

[badgers]

disregard I am a tard
anyone know how to bypass the clipboard in my code 3 replies up?
how about speeding up the parsing of the RTF?
thank you for your time and have a good day