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  • $\begingroup$ @SjoerdC.deVries. Your 1st comment would certainly explain my result. Checking the documentation once more, all the examples I can find of Except used in string operations support your assertion. Can you point me to anywhere it is explicitly documented? Your 2nd comment can be applied not only to this toy problem, but to my real problem as well. If you write it up I will up-vote it and accept it. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 22:03
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    $\begingroup$ The Details section of StringExpression explicitly, if cryptically, states that Except can be used to match either a single character or a string position. It also implicitly suggests that the only valid arguments are those patterns listed within the sections detailing classes of characters or positions in strings. Experimentation supports this interpretation. All of this requires a pretty close reading -- I would prefer more direct statements of these points within the documentation. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 7, 2014 at 1:33