By the way, anyone who wants to try out a complex regular expression to get hashtags to announce as "hashtag" followed by whatever follows the pound sign EXCEPT if everything after the pound sign is a string of digits, then do the following (this presumes NVDA is already open):

1. Hit NVDA + N, P, D, D to open the default dictionary manager.
2. Hit ALT + A to activate the Add button or navigate to the Add button and activate it.
3. In the Add Dictionary Entry dialog, in the noted edit boxes enter what follows that box name exactly ignoring the space that separates the name from the content:
          Pattern (#)([^0-9]\w+|[0-9]+(?=[a-zA-Z]+)\w*)
          Replacement hashtag \2
          Comment Speak hashtags as hashtags
          Leave the case sensitive checkbox unchecked.  Note:  when using regular expression matches this should ALWAYS remain unchecked.  The regex deals with case.
          Type Radio button for Regular Expression should be activated.
4. Activate the dialog's OK button.
5. Activate the dictionary manager's OK button.

You're done.

Now, for the other regex gurus out there, below are the test strings I used and NVDA is still not pronouncing the ones that start with numbers correctly.  I can't for the life of me figure out why, as I strip the number sign from what's sent to the synth, so why I'd get "number" said, ever, eludes me.  The first and third do as I'd expect and say hashtag followed by the text. The fourth does as I expect and is not captured and, thus, gets announced as number.  But the second and fifth still get "number" followed by the number part then the rest of the text said as a unit.  Why?  [And I'm fine with this discussion occurring off list, as it would be a snoozefest for those who don't wish to dig in to regex construction.  Also, I use the website regex101 for testing what a given regex matches with Python regex syntax as the chosen one.]

--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

The difference between a top-flight creative man and the hack is his ability to express powerful meanings indirectly.

         ~ Vance Packard