Can three quotes equal a single, smart quote? It’s complicated...

[d0ugparker]

I searched the forums but didn't find an answer to this question.

Executive summary:
"
= ", a regular double quote
"" [1]
= “, a starting smart double quote
""" [2]
= ”, an ending smart double quote

You can already see the problem. This is okay:

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:*?:"":“

but [1] clears two regular quotes off of the character stream stack, so a character stream stack with three, regular, double quotes [2] can never be reached, triggered, and replaced. The following won't work because of this:

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:*?:""":”

I've also tried

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:*?:“":”

thinking AHK pushes the smart quote it generates onto the character stream stack, but it doesn't. Can a character be added to AHK's stack? Maybe that's the solution. So, I tried using Send, below, to check out its overall, behind-the-scenes manner of operation, below. Spoiler: nope.

This is my current, two, autocorrect hotkey pair, which isn't working the way I'd like it to be working, and yes, I understand the order in which autocorrect rules are listed will affect the resulting replacement pattern:

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:*?:“"::”         ; this doesn't work as I'd like
:*?:""::          ; this three line autocorrect rule works
Send,“            ; I'd hoped Send would have pushed a “ onto the stack
return            ; but it apparently doesn't

How do I write—*can* I write—three, regular, double quotes replaced by one, ending, double smart quote?

[mikeyww]

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$"::
SetTimer, Tq, -300
Tq++
Return
Tq:
Send % (SubStr("""“”", Tq, 1), Tq := 0)
KeyWait, "
Return