Hi all,

In my previous post, I gave a general method to replace a specific character by an other, everywhere in lines of a delimited text, except for a range, between column c1 and c2. I now give you an extension of that method to SEVERAL fixed zones to exclude !

I mean :

^---------- Zone 1 to exclude ------------ Zone 2 to exclude -------------------- Zone 3 to exclude ------------$

So, let’s suppose the original text, below :

abcd,04,,11111111, 22,ANYWORD ,ANYWORD,ANY,QZERTY,001,,5555,,AN,Y ANY,pqrst,00x,ANYWORD ,ANYWORD,9A9 ,Last Field, fghi,02,,22222222, 22,ANY ,ANY, WORDS, ANY,AZERTY,999,,6666,,ANY AN,Y,uvwxy,01y,ANY ,ANY, WORDS,,7Z3 ,Last Field, klmn,09,,33333333, 22,WORDS,ANY, WORDS,ANY,TEST-1,123,,7777,,ANY,,ANY,zabcd,02z,,ORDS,ANY, WORDS,3H5 ,Last Field,

I defined 3 zones to exclude, where the comma character will NOT be changed, while the S/R process :

The zone 1, which starts at column 26 and ends at column 52 => S1= 26 and E1 = 52 The zone 2, which starts at column 65 and ends at column 72 => S2= 65 and E2 = 72 The zone 3, which starts at column 84 and ends at column 99 => S3= 84 and E3 = 99

As previously explained, we, temporarily, add the # or @ boundaries, in order to delimit these 3 zones, with the general S/R, below :

^(.{S1-1})(.{E1-S1+1})(.{S2-E1-1})(.{E2-S2+1})(.{S3-E2-1))(.{E3-S3+1})..............(.{Sn-En-1-1})(.{En-Sn+1})

With the given values of S1 through E3 above, we get the following S/R :

SEARCH : ^(.{25})(.{27})(.{12})(.{8})(.{11})(.{16})

REPLACE : \1#\2@\3#\4@\5#\6@

which gives us the delimited text, below, with the boundaries :

abcd,04,,11111111, 22,#ANYWORD ,ANYWORD,ANY,QZERTY@,001,,5555,,#AN,Y ANY@,pqrst,00x,#ANYWORD ,ANYWORD@,9A9 ,Last Field, fghi,02,,22222222, 22,#ANY ,ANY, WORDS, ANY,AZERTY@,999,,6666,,#ANY AN,Y@,uvwxy,01y,#ANY ,ANY, WORDS,@,7Z3 ,Last Field, klmn,09,,33333333, 22,#WORDS,ANY, WORDS,ANY,TEST-1@,123,,7777,,#ANY,,ANY@,zabcd,02z,#,ORDS,ANY, WORDS@,3H5 ,Last Field,

Then, running the second regex S/R, below :

SEARCH : ,(?=[^@]*#)|,(?![^#]*@)|(#|@)

REPLACE : (?1:_)

we obtain the final text :

abcd_04__11111111_ 22_ANYWORD ,ANYWORD,ANY,QZERTY_001__5555__AN,Y ANY_pqrst_00x_ANYWORD ,ANYWORD_9A9 _Last Field_ fghi_02__22222222_ 22_ANY ,ANY, WORDS, ANY,AZERTY_999__6666__ANY AN,Y_uvwxy_01y_ANY ,ANY, WORDS,_7Z3 _Last Field_ klmn_09__33333333_ 22_WORDS,ANY, WORDS,ANY,TEST-1_123__7777__ANY,,ANY_zabcd_02z_,ORDS,ANY, WORDS_3H5 _Last Field_

As expected, all the commas, located from column 26 till column 52, from column 65 till column 72 and from column 84 till column 99, have NOT been changed into an underscore character !

Notes :

In comparison to the previous regexes, only the look-aheads of the second S/R, are slightly different :

The positive look-ahead (?=[^@]*#) verifies that, from the cursor location, a # character, can be found further, on the current line scanned, without any @ character, between the cursor location and the # location

The negative look-ahead (?![^#]*@) verifies that, from the cursor location, a @ character, cannot be found further, on the current line scanned, without any # character, between the cursor location and the @ location

Cheers,

guy038

Thank you very much for your reply! I was able to sort out my issues.

Thank you, it worked well

Best Regards

If you don’t mind tripling the amount of typing, entering this in the “File name:” box and pressing Enter seems to achieve what you want:
*.*

It’s really just the “All types” mask, but quicker than choosing “All types (*.*)” from the dropdown.

Cheezy solution, I know…but I use it myself, rather often. :)

How about the keyboard shortcut for moving to the end of document (default: Ctrl+End)? Sure, you’d have to do it in each document, but it is only one (quick) action…

Menu bar -> Language -> INI file

You will probably get faster/better responses if you include more information about what you’re trying to do.

Title updated.

Hi Greg and Joe,

Joe, concerning the SEARCH regex, I suppose that you meant, ( with some more star meta-characters ! ) :

SEARCH = ^(.*?,.*?,.*?),(.*?),(.*?),(.*?),(.*?),(.*?),(.*?),(.*?),(.*?),$

Then, with :

REPLACE = \1,\2\r\n\1,\3\r\n\1,\4\r\n\1,\5\r\n\1,\6\r\n\1,\7\r\n\1,\8\r\n\1,\9

it would, indeed, match the line, with 8 addresses, below

10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0,10.16.67.0,10.16.68.0,10.16.69.0,10.16.70.0,10.16.71.0,

and changed it into the block of 8 lines, below :

10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.67.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.68.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.69.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.70.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.71.0

Unfortunately, if a line, of Greg’s text, has less than eight addresses, at the end, your regex would not work :-((

But, thanks to you, you put me in the good direction and gave me an idea for getting all the work done, with ONE regex ONLY !!

So, I start with the example text, below, which contains all possible cases, from no address to 8 addresses, after the environment field, of each line :

10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0,10.16.67.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0,10.16.67.0,10.16.68.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0,10.16.67.0,10.16.68.0,10.16.69.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0,10.16.67.0,10.16.68.0,10.16.69.0,10.16.70.0, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0,10.16.65.0,10.16.66.0,10.16.67.0,10.16.68.0,10.16.69.0,10.16.70.0,10.16.71.0,

The following S/R, with search mode = Regular expression, will realize everything, after clicking, ONCE only, on the Replace All button !!

SEARCH = (.*?,.*?,.*?,)(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?(?:(.*?),)?

REPLACE = \1(?2\2)\r\n(?3\1\3\r\n)(?4\1\4\r\n)(?5\1\5\r\n)(?6\1\6\r\n)(?7\1\7\r\n)(?8\1\8\r\n)(?9\1\9\r\n)

So, in one go, the resulting text would be :

10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod, 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.67.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.67.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.68.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.67.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.68.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.69.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.67.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.68.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.69.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.70.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.64.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.65.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.66.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.67.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.68.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.69.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.70.0 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,10.16.71.0

Et voilà ! Well, although I practised regexes, since many years, I, always, surprised by their incredible power !!

Notes :

If the original line is only 10.16.64.0/24,ABC,Prod,, without any address, after, the S/R just rewrites that line

In the search regex, the 8 parts (.*?) are groups from 2 to 9, each containing a possible address, which must be rewritten, in replacement

These 8 groups, followed by a comma, are embedded in an optional non-capturing group (?:(.*?),)? ( the group may be present [1] or absent [0] )

At the beginning, the part (.*?,.*?,.*?,) looks for the first three fields : network, datacenter and environment, followed by a comma

In replacement, the syntax (?#\1\#\r\n) is called a conditional replacement. It means that IF the group # exists, then it rewrites the group 1, followed by the group #, followed by the Windows EOL characters \r\n

At the beginning, the part \1(?2\2)\r\n writes, first, the group 1. Then it writes the group 2, ONLY IF it exists ( the first IPV4 address ), and, finally rewrites the Windows EOL characters \r\n

Remarks :

Contrary to my previous post, with this new S/R, there is no condition, any more, about the contents of fields 2 and 3 ! They could be, for instance : 10.16.64.0/24,99999,00000000,… :-)

Any possible leading indentation, of a line, is just kept, by this S/R !

You can click, either, on the Replace All button AND/OR on the Replace button, for a step by step replacement :-)

Cheers,

guy038