How would I copy and paste selected text using Regular Expressions and the Replace dialog in Notepad ++? - regex

Dvelving straight into the problem; all I'm trying to do here is to duplicate a line and add a bracket at the end using Regular Expressions and automate the process through the Replace With dialog in Notepad ++.
My issue visualized:
In the representation underneath, I have a bunch of instances of "["Mesh"]" that all have different path values assigned to it. All I want to do is duplicate it the path entry and add bracket at the end before the comma in the duplicated one.
What I have right now:
...
["Mesh"] = Platform(
"models/ships/japan/Zuikaku.mmod",
...
What I'm trying to achieve:
...
["Mesh"] = Platform(
"models/ships/japan/Zuikaku.mmod",
"models/ships/japan/Zuikaku.mmod"),
...
Without getting too specific, since there are ~500 of these instances across the file I'm modifying, I do not want to go through each one while simply clicking CTRL + D to duplicate each line and add the bracket as that would take literal ages to do.
I have some limited experience with Regular Expressions from previous uses, but very limited. I know I can select the entire line in the Search dialog using ".*" but that's as far as I've gotten.
Thank you in advance for your time!

You should be able to use this regex (disable . matches newline). I am using (\R+) to capture end-of-line characters (and reproduce them in the output) so that it will work on systems that use other than just newline to end lines.
(\["Mesh"\]\s*=\s*.*(\R+))(.*),$
Replace with
$1$3,$2$3\),
For the input of
...
["Mesh"] = Platform(
"models/ships/japan/Zuikaku.mmod",
...
This gives
...
["Mesh"] = Platform(
"models/ships/japan/Zuikaku.mmod",
"models/ships/japan/Zuikaku.mmod"),
...

Related

Regex to extract all strings from source code used when calling a function

We have an old, grown project with thousands of php files and need to clean it up.
Throughout the whole project we do have a lot of function calls similar to:
trans('somestring1');
trans("SomeString2");
trans('more_string',$somevar);
trans("anotherstring4",$somevar);
trans($tx_key);
trans($anotherKey,$somevar);
All of those are embedded into the code and represent translation keys. I would like to find a way to extract all "translation keys" in all occurrences.
The PHP project is in VS Code, so a RegEx Search would be helpful to list the results.
Or I could search through the project with any other tool you would recommend
However I would also need to "export" just the strings to a textfile or similar.
The ideal result would be:
somestring1
SomeString2
more_string
anotherstring4
$tx_key
$anotherKey
As a bonus - if someone knows, how I could get the above list including filename where the result has been found - that would be really fantastic!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Update:
The RegEx I came up with:
/(trans)+\([^\)]*\)(\.[^\)]*\))?/gim
list the full occurrence - How can I just get the first part of the result (between Single Quotes OR between Double Quotes OR beginning with $)
See here: regexr.com/548d4
Here are some steps to get exactly what you want. Using this you can do a find and replace on your search results!
So you could do sequential regex find/replaces in the right circumstances.
The replace can be just within the search results editor and not affect the underlying files at all - which is what you want.
You can also have the replace action actually edit the underlying files if you wish.
[Hint: This technique can also make doing a find item a / replace with b in files that contain term c much easier to do.]
(1) Open a new search editor: Ctrl+Shift+P
(That command is currently unbound to a keybinding.)
(2) Paste this regex into the Search input box (with the regex option .* selected):
`(.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]+)(.*)` - a relatively simple regex
regex101 demo
See my other answer for a regex to work with up to 6 entries per line:
(\s*\d+:\s)?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*)((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?)(.*)
(3) You will get a list of files with the search results. Now open a Find widget Shift+F in this Search editor.
(4) Put the same regex into that Find input. Regex option selected. Put $3 into the Replace field. This only replaces in this Search editor - not the original files (although that can be done if you want it in some case). Replace All.
If using the 1-6 version regex, replace with:
$1$5 $9 $13 $17 $21 $25
(5) Voila. You can now save this Search Editor as a file.
The first answer works for one desired capture per line as in the original question. But that relatively simple regex won't work if there are two or more per line.
The regex below works for up to 6 entries per line, like
trans('somestring1');
stuff trans("SomeString2"); some content trans("SomeString2a");more stuff [repeat, repeat]
But it doesn't for 7+ - you'll need a regex guru for that.
Here is the process again with a twist of using a snippet in the Search Editor instead of a Find/Replace. Using a snippet allows more control over the formatting of the final result.
(1) Open a new search editor: Ctrl+Shift+P (That command is currently unbound to a keybinding.)
(2) Paste this regex into the Search input box (with the regex option .* selected):
`((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*)((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?)(.*)`
regex101 demo
(3) You will get a list of files with the search results. Now select all your results individually with Ctrl+Shift+L.
(4) Trigger this keybinding:
{
"key": "alt+i", // whatever keybinding you like
"command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
"when": "editorTextFocus",
"args": {
"snippet": "${TM_SELECTED_TEXT/((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*)((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?)(.*)/$4${8:+\n }$8${12:+\n }$12${16:+\n }$16${20:+\n }$20${24:+\n }$24/g}"
}
},
That snippet will be applied to each selection in your search result. This part ${8:+\n } is a conditional which adds a newline and some spaces if there is a capture group 8 - which would be a second trans(...) on a line.
Demo: (unfortunately, it doesn't properly show the Ctrl+Shift+L selecting all lines individually or the Alt+i snippet trigger)

EditPad: Need a regex that handles multiple possible data formats

First, I'm using EditPadPro for my regex cleaning, so any answers given should work within that environment.
I get a large spreadsheet full of data that I have to clean every day. I've managed to get it down to a couple of different regexes that I run, and this works... but I'm curious to see if it's possible to reduce down to a single regex.
Here is some sample data:
3-CPC_114851_70095_70095_CAN-bre
3-CPC_114851_70095_70095_CAN
b11-ao1-113775-bre
b7-ao-114441
b7-ao-114441-bre
b7-ao1-114441
b7-ao1-114441-bre
http://go.nlvid.com/results1/?http://bo
go.nlv/results1/?click
b4-sm-1359
b6-sm-1356-bre
1359_195_1453814569-bre
1356_104_1456856729
b15-rad-8905
b15-rad-8905-bre
Here is how the above data needs to end up:
114851-bre
114851
113775-bre
114441
114441-bre
114441
114441-bre
http://go.nlvid.com/results1/
go.nlv/results1/
sm-1359
sm-1356-bre
sm-1359-bre
sm-1356
rad-8905
rad-8905-bre
So, there are numerous rules, such as:
In cases of more than 2 underscores, the result needs to contain only the value immediately after the first underscore, and everything from the dash onwards.
In cases where the string contains "-ao-", "-ao1-", everything prior to the final numeric string should be removed.
If a question mark is present, everything from the mark onwards should be removed.
If the string contains "-sm-" or "-rad-", everything prior to those alpha strings should be removed.
If the string contains 2 underscores, averything after the first numeric string up to a dash
(if present) should be removed, and the string "sm-" should be prepended.
Additionally there is other data that must be left untouched, including but not limited to:
113535|24905|24905
as well as many variations on this pattern of xxxxxx|yyyyy|zzzzz (and not always those string lengths)
This may be asking way too much of regex, I'm not sure as I'm not great with it. But I've seen some pretty impressive things done with it, so I thought I'd put this out to the community and see what you come back with.
Jonathan, I can wrap all of those into one regex, except the last one (where you prepend sm- to a string that does not contain sm). It is not possible in this context, because we cannot capture "sm" to reuse in the replacement, and because there is no "conditional replacement" syntax in EPP.
That being said, you can achieve what you want in EPP with two regexes and one macro to chain the two.
Here is how.
The solution below is tested in EPP.
Regex 1
Press Ctrl + Sh + F to enter Search / Replace mode
Enter the following Search and Replace in the appropriate boxes
At the top right of the Search bar, click the Favorite Searches pull-down, select "Add", give it a name, e.g. Regex 1
Search:
(?mx)^
(?=(?:[^_\r\n]*?_){3})[^_\r\n]+?_([^_\r\n]+)[^-\r\n]+(-[^\r\n]+)?
|
[^\r\n]*?-ao1?-\D*([^\r\n]+)
|
([^\r\n?]*)(?=\?)[^\r\n]+
|
[^\r\n]*?-((?:sm|rad)-[^\r\n]+)
Replace:
\1\2\3\4\5
Regex 2
Same 1-2-3 steps as above.
Search
^(?!(?:[^_\r\n]*?_){3})(?=(?:[^_\r\n]*?_){2})(\d+)(?:[^-\r\n]+(-[^\r\n]+)?)
Replace
sm-\1\2
Chaining Regex 1 and Regex 2
Top menu: Macros, Record Macro, give it a name.
Click the Favorite searches pulldown, select Regex 1
Hit Replace All.
Click the Favorite searches pulldown, select Regex 2
Hit Replace All.
Macros, Stop recording.
Whenever you want to do your sequence of replacements, pull it by name under the Macros menu.
Testing This
I have tested my "Jonathan macro" on your input. Here is the result:
114851-bre
114851
113775-bre
114441
114441-bre
114441
114441-bre
http://go.nlvid.com/results1/
go.nlv/results1/
sm-1359
sm-1356-bre
sm-1359-bre
sm-1356
rad-8905
rad-8905-bre
Try this:
Toggle the Search Panel : SHIFT+CTRL+F
SEARCH: .*?((?:sm-|rad-)?(?:(?:\d+|[\w\.]+\/.*?))(?:-\w+)?$)
REPLACE: $1
Check REGEX and WORDS
Click Replace All or Hit CTRL+ALT+F3
Check the image below:

regular expressions for selecting multiple lines

i have a text file in a particular format..
!c_xyz|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyz
asdasda........................................................
asddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
!c_abc|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyz...
I need a regular expression to reformat this file using Find and Replace - Visual Studio. The Desc field value has overflowed onto next lines. i need to move them back to the actual line. Final string should be like
!c_xyz|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyzsdasda.........asdddddd..
!c_abc|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyz...
I need an RE for "desc=" followed by anything until the next ! symbol
find Desc=([^\|\r\n]+)[\r\n](([^!\r\n][^\r\n]+[\r\n])*), replace with Desc=\1\2 and repeat until every line starts with ! (you can test this using ^[^!] as a search expr which should find nothing).
alternatively find [\r\n]+, replace with the empty string. thereafter find !, replace with \r\n!. this suggestion has 2 drawbacks. it temporarily produces very long lines which your editor (notably vs) may or may not have difficulties with and processes descriptions containing ! incorrectly.
addendum:
your input seems to be fixed format up to the Desc section. if it is indeed, you can apply alternative #2, step 1, being followed by a search/replace run using (!.{53}\|Desc=)/[\r\n]\1.
As mentioned in the comments by #X3074861X, you can use Notepad++.
Input:
!c_xyz|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyz
asdasda........................................................
asddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
!c_abc|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyz...
For the find and replace, select the mode as Regular expression with the options as follows:
Find what: \r\n[^!]
Leave Replace with blank.
Output:
!c_xyz|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyzsdasda........................................................sddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
!c_abc|crby=112|crdate=12jun11|mdby=112|mddate=12jun11|Desc=xyz...
Screenshot:

PowerShell isolating parts of strings

I have no experience with regular expressions and would love some help and suggestions on a possible solution to deleting parts of file names contained in a csv file.
Problem:
A list of exported file names contains a random unique identifier that I need isolated. The unique identifier has no predictable pattern, however the aspects which need removing do. Each file name ends with one of the following variations:
V, -V, or %20V followed by a random number sequence with possible spaces, additional "-","" and ending with .PDF
examples:
GTD-LVOE-43-0021 V10 0.PDF
GTD-LVOE-43-0021-V34-2.PDF
GTD-LVOE-43-0021_V02_9.PDF
GTD-LVOE-43-0021 V49.9.PDF
Solution:
My plan was to write a script to select of the first occurrence of a V from the end of the string and then delete it and everything to the right of it. Then the file names can be cleaned up by deleting any "-" or "_" and white space that occurs at the end of a string.
Question:
How can I do this with a regular expression and is my line of thinking even close to the right approach to solving this?
REGEX: [\s\-_]V.*?\.PDF
Might do the trick. You'd still need to replace away any leading - and _, but it should get you down the path, hopefully.
This would read as follows..
start with a whitespace, - OR _ followed by a V. Then take everything until you get to the first .PDF

Use cases for regular expression find/replace

I recently discussed editors with a co-worker. He uses one of the less popular editors and I use another (I won't say which ones since it's not relevant and I want to avoid an editor flame war). I was saying that I didn't like his editor as much because it doesn't let you do find/replace with regular expressions.
He said he's never wanted to do that, which was surprising since it's something I find myself doing all the time. However, off the top of my head I wasn't able to come up with more than one or two examples. Can anyone here offer some examples of times when they've found regex find/replace useful in their editor? Here's what I've been able to come up with since then as examples of things that I've actually had to do:
Strip the beginning of a line off of every line in a file that looks like:
Line 25634 :
Line 632157 :
Taking a few dozen files with a standard header which is slightly different for each file and stripping the first 19 lines from all of them all at once.
Piping the result of a MySQL select statement into a text file, then removing all of the formatting junk and reformatting it as a Python dictionary for use in a simple script.
In a CSV file with no escaped commas, replace the first character of the 8th column of each row with a capital A.
Given a bunch of GDB stack traces with lines like
#3 0x080a6d61 in _mvl_set_req_done (req=0x82624a4, result=27158) at ../../mvl/src/mvl_serv.c:850
strip out everything from each line except the function names.
Does anyone else have any real-life examples? The next time this comes up, I'd like to be more prepared to list good examples of why this feature is useful.
Just last week, I used regex find/replace to convert a CSV file to an XML file.
Simple enough to do really, just chop up each field (luckily it didn't have any escaped commas) and push it back out with the appropriate tags in place of the commas.
Regex make it easy to replace whole words using word boundaries.
(\b\w+\b)
So you can replace unwanted words in your file without disturbing words like Scunthorpe
Yesterday I took a create table statement I made for an Oracle table and converted the fields to setString() method calls using JDBC and PreparedStatements. The table's field names were mapped to my class properties, so regex search and replace was the perfect fit.
Create Table text:
...
field_1 VARCHAR2(100) NULL,
field_2 VARCHAR2(10) NULL,
field_3 NUMBER(8) NULL,
field_4 VARCHAR2(100) NULL,
....
My Regex Search:
/([a-z_])+ .*?,?/
My Replacement:
pstmt.setString(1, \1);
The result:
...
pstmt.setString(1, field_1);
pstmt.setString(1, field_2);
pstmt.setString(1, field_3);
pstmt.setString(1, field_4);
....
I then went through and manually set the position int for each call and changed the method to setInt() (and others) where necessary, but that worked handy for me. I actually used it three or four times for similar field to method call conversions.
I like to use regexps to reformat lists of items like this:
int item1
double item2
to
public void item1(int item1){
}
public void item2(double item2){
}
This can be a big time saver.
I use it all the time when someone sends me a list of patient visit numbers in a column (say 100-200) and I need them in a '0000000444','000000004445' format. works wonders for me!
I also use it to pull out email addresses in an email. I send out group emails often and all the bounced returns come back in one email. So, I regex to pull them all out and then drop them into a string var to remove from the database.
I even wrote a little dialog prog to apply regex to my clipboard. It grabs the contents applies the regex and then loads it back into the clipboard.
One thing I use it for in web development all the time is stripping some text of its HTML tags. This might need to be done to sanitize user input for security, or for displaying a preview of a news article. For example, if you have an article with lots of HTML tags for formatting, you can't just do LEFT(article_text,100) + '...' (plus a "read more" link) and render that on a page at the risk of breaking the page by splitting apart an HTML tag.
Also, I've had to strip img tags in database records that link to images that no longer exist. And let's not forget web form validation. If you want to make a user has entered a correct email address (syntactically speaking) into a web form this is about the only way of checking it thoroughly.
I've just pasted a long character sequence into a string literal, and now I want to break it up into a concatenation of shorter string literals so it doesn't wrap. I also want it to be readable, so I want to break only after spaces. I select the whole string (minus the quotation marks) and do an in-selection-only replace-all with this regex:
/.{20,60} /
...and this replacement:
/$0"ΒΆ + "/
...where the pilcrow is an actual newline, and the number of spaces varies from one incident to the next. Result:
String s = "I recently discussed editors with a co-worker. He uses one "
+ "of the less popular editors and I use another (I won't say "
+ "which ones since it's not relevant and I want to avoid an "
+ "editor flame war). I was saying that I didn't like his "
+ "editor as much because it doesn't let you do find/replace "
+ "with regular expressions.";
The first thing I do with any editor is try to figure out it's Regex oddities. I use it all the time. Nothing really crazy, but it's handy when you've got to copy/paste stuff between different types of text - SQL <-> PHP is the one I do most often - and you don't want to fart around making the same change 500 times.
Regex is very handy any time I am trying to replace a value that spans multiple lines. Or when I want to replace a value with something that contains a line break.
I also like that you can match things in a regular expression and not replace the full match using the $# syntax to output the portion of the match you want to maintain.
I agree with you on points 3, 4, and 5 but not necessarily points 1 and 2.
In some cases 1 and 2 are easier to achieve using a anonymous keyboard macro.
By this I mean doing the following:
Position the cursor on the first line
Start a keyboard macro recording
Modify the first line
Position the cursor on the next line
Stop record.
Now all that is needed to modify the next line is to repeat the macro.
I could live with out support for regex but could not live without anonymous keyboard macros.