Notepad++ regex search and replace ignores my result groups

Question

I need to change several text files with questions to a format which a online learning platform uses.

I have lines with this structure:
\item Question in german.//Question in english.\\ %true
\item Second question in german.//Second question in english.\\ %false

I need to change the line so it would look like this:
::Question in german.//Question in english.::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;">Question in german.//Question in english.</span><br></p>{ %true
::Second question in german.//Second question in english..::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;">Second question in german.//Second question in english.</span><br></p>{ %false

Only the text 'Question in german.//Question in english.' and the anser '%true' changes (the answer can either be true or false).

I was able to find my wanted part with this regex expression:
(\\item )(.*)(\\\\ %.*)

I used this
::\2::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;">\2</span><br></p>{ \3
as replacement statement but Notepad++ result is:

 ::::[html]<p><span style="font-size: 14px;"></span><br></p>{ 

I also tried

:: $2 ::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;"> $2 </span><br></p>{ $3

because I'm not sure what Syntax notepad++ v7.7 uses. The result is similar

 ::  ::[html]<p><span style="font-size: 14px;">  </span><br></p>{ 

I have no idea why Notepad++ ignores my groups.

SOLUTION

I wasn't able to solve the problem with Notepad++. Here is the solution that worked for me:

I used this webpage https://regex101.com/ with the pattern to search:
^\\item\h+(\N*?)//(\N*)\\\\\h*(\S+)

and for substitiution
::$1//$2::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;">$1//$2</span><br></p>{ $3

Answer 1

Try the following find and replace, in regex mode:

Find:    ^\\\S+\s+(.*?)//(.*?)\\\\ %true$
Replace: ::$1//$2::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;">$1//$2</span><br></p>{ %true

Demo

Your current pattern is not specific enough, and also the (.*) capture group might possibly match incorrectly across lines, depending on the regex mode being used.

Answer 2

I wasn't able to solve the problem with Notepad++. Here is the solution that worked for me:

I used this webpage https://regex101.com/ with the pattern to search:
^\\item\h+(\N*?)//(\N*)\\\\\h*(\S+)

and for substitiution
::$1//$2::[html]<p><span style\="font-size\: 14px;">$1//$2</span><br></p>{ $3

Here is the link to the solution DEMO
Credit goes to bobblebubble and TimBiegeleisen