Hello, @troglo37, @coises, @peterjones, @dr-ramaanand and All, Préamble : @troglo37, on demand of @dr-ramaanand, I changed your initial title : Is There A Way To Ignore Letters With Accents When Searching? by this new title, which seems more acurrate : Is there a way to find both alphabets, with and without accents, when searching? Thank you, @dr-ramaanand, for reminding me of this interesting post, which uses a more general, but more accurate, definition of accented characters ! Indeed, an accented character , let’s say the é character, may be described as : The character é LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE, of Unicode value 00E9 The character e LATIN SMALL LETTER E, of Unicode value 0065, followed with the character  ́   COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT, of Unicode value 0301 Note that, in this second form, the letter e is the main character of an \X sequence and the accent(s), coming next, are the subsequent chars of this \X sequence ! So, the macro, described in my previous post, should be changed as : <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0"> <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?=\X)(.)|(?!\X)." /> <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1\(\?=[[=$1=]]\)\\X)" /> <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" /> </Macro> And it means that : If the current character found is a single character OR the main character of a current \X sequence, it must be replaced with the string (?=[[=$1=]])\X, where $1 represents the current char If the current character found is an subsequent character of the current \X sequence, thus an accent, it must just be deleted as its main character has been previously taken in account So, let’s consider the following French text, pasted in a new tab : C'est là, près de la forêt, dans un gîte, où régnait un grand capharnaüm, que l'aïeul ôta sa flûte et son bâton de son canoë C'est là, près de la forêt, dans un gîte, où régnait un grand capharnaüm, que l'aïeul ôta sa flûte et son bâton de son canoë Note that, within the first line, the accented characters are single chars whereas, within the second line, the accentued chars are unaccented vowels followed with an accent character If we apply our modified Global Search macro against the first line of this new tab, we get this regex : (?=[[=C=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=à=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=è=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=ê=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=î=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=ù=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=é=]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=h=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=ü=]])\X(?=[[=m=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=q=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=ï=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=ô=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=û=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=b=]])\X(?=[[=â=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=ë=]])\X Which does match the two lines of the new tab ! And if we apply our Global Search macro against the second line of this new tab, we get this regex : (?=[[=C=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=ù=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=h=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=m=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=q=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=b=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X Which does match, also, the two lines of the new tab ! In conclusion, this method allows you to search for a stream selection of characters, regardless of the syntax of the accented characters within that selection ! Best Regards, guy038

@guy038 said: Now, based on my test, have you conducted any similar tests of your own, and have you found that searching with Search++ also takes longer compared to the native search in N++ ? I ran some tests this morning because I wanted to get a reference before I start testing changes to the multithread scheduling in Search++ — so I can verify that what is supposed to be better actually is better. This is Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, running on a 2019 desktop with a Core i9-9900K and 32 GB RAM. D is an internal SSD. S is an internal HDD. U is a USB thumb drive. \\PEACOCK is another machine on the same local area network. The content of the folder Testing2 on each drive is the same. It’s a mix of 3,762 files in 228 folders, 591 MB total. Somewhere around 5% are binary files (dll, exe, png, etc.). For U, following your lead, I did a “repeat” running the same search immediately after the first; after that, I unplugged and reconnected the drive before proceeding to another test. I couldn’t conveniently unplug the internal drives, but testing showed no significant variation in successive trials on D, S or PEACOCK. Some of these results are surprising. (I thought the hard disk would be noticeably slower than the SSD, and I expected to see a repeat of your experience with the USB drive.) I suspect that some specialized knowledge I do not have, and perhaps a more controlled environment, is required to measure performance meaningfully, so all this should be taken as anecdotal. Search++ 0.6.3.1: D:\Quick\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 0:08.71 149,919 matches in 2,505 of 3,762 files (Regex): a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 D:\Quick\Testing2 the 0:01.44 445,907 matches in 3,342 of 3,762 files (Regex): the S:\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 0:08.91 149,919 matches in 2,505 of 3,762 files (Regex): a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 S:\Testing2 the 0:01.10 445,907 matches in 3,342 of 3,762 files (Regex): the U:\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 0:16.36 149,919 matches in 2,505 of 3,762 files (Regex): a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 U:\Testing2 (repeat) a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 0:08.87 149,919 matches in 2,505 of 3,762 files (Regex): a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 U:\Testing2 the 0:24.84 445,907 matches in 3,342 of 3,762 files (Regex): the U:\Testing2 (repeat) the 0:01.03 445,907 matches in 3,342 of 3,762 files (Regex): the \\PEACOCK\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 0:12.32 149,919 matches in 2,505 of 3,762 files (Regex): a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 \\PEACOCK\Testing2 the 0:07.07 445,907 matches in 3,342 of 3,762 files (Regex): the Notepad++ 8.9.7: D:\Quick\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 1:53:64 Search "a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1" (149919 hits in 2505 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] D:\Quick\Testing2 the 0:14.14 Search "the" (445907 hits in 3342 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] S:\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 1:53.99 Search "a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1" (149919 hits in 2505 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] S:\Testing2 the 0:12.42 Search "the" (445907 hits in 3342 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] U:\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 2:08.20 Search "a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1" (149919 hits in 2505 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] U:\Testing2 (repeat) a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 1:54.96 Search "a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1" (149919 hits in 2505 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] U:\Testing2 the 0:31.62 Search "the" (445907 hits in 3342 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] U:\Testing2 (repeat) the 0:14.16 Search "the" (445907 hits in 3342 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] \\PEACOCK\Testing2 a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1 2:11.36 Search "a([^\r\n])[^\r\n]*b\1" (149919 hits in 2505 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] \\PEACOCK\Testing2 the 0:29.46 Search "the" (445907 hits in 3342 files of 3762 searched) [RegEx] (The reason for using [^\r\n] instead of . is that Notepad++ and Search++ have slightly different definitions of . when “matches newline” is not in effect: like Columns++, Search++ excludes only the characters that cause a line break in Scintilla, new line and return; while Notepad++ also excludes four other control characters, FF, NEL, LS and PS. The . is noticeably faster, but it returns different results for Search++ and Notepad++, almost certainly due to the binary files in Testing2.) Edit: Added local area network tests.

@PeterJones I was looking at style for CDATA instead of SGML, so that explains it. Thanks a lot for the help!!

Seems they decided that it they couldn’t be the heroes, rhat they would be the villains.

@M-Andre-Z-Eckenrode said: Possible v8.9.7 bug? I wouldn’t call it a bug. v8.9.7 intentionally made sure that running a Macro performed the same HMAC check as running a Run menu entry. If your PythonScript runs a menu command (either a macro or a run-menu command, especially), it would also trigger that check. Or, if you hadn’t used any of the intervening v8.9.6.2-4 subversions, then your HMAC would never have been updated, and Notepad++ would demand a single validate to your custom shortcuts, becaus of your PythonScript shortcut.

@MurraySobol , Please use the </> button on the forum toolbar when you want to paste example text, and put the text where it says code_text when you do that. That way, your example text won’t be interpreted as “markdown”, so that we know that your example text is coming through the way you pasted it. @MurraySobol said: This question is for @guy038. Why limit it, when anyone else with the knowledge can answer as well? I don’t know if I have modified the shortcuts.xml file correctly, You have not. The <Macro name=...>...</Macro> must be between <Macros> and </Macros> here is my file contents: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <NotepadPlus> <InternalCommands /> <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0"> <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?=\X)(.)|(?!\X)." /> <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1\(\?=[[=$1=]]\)\\X)" /> <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" /> </Macro> <Macros /> <UserDefinedCommands> ... </UserDefinedCommands> <PluginCommands /> <ScintillaKeys /> </NotepadPlus> I was trying to find this line: the line containing </Macros> in shortcuts.xml but did not see it. Looks like the updated XML libary that Notepad++ now uses is changing empty <Macros> </Macros> into <Macros /> … which is valid XML, but annoying when people are trying to explain how to edit macros manually. To follow @guy038’s instructions, you will have to change <Macros /> into <Macros> </Macros> and then put the macro inside it, like: <Macros> <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0"> <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?=\X)(.)|(?!\X)." /> <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1\(\?=[[=$1=]]\)\\X)" /> <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" /> <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" /> </Macro> </Macros>

@Coises You’re welcome, and thank YOU for promptly creating the new version, and for your plugins in general to begin with! The new one lets me exit without incurring any dialog.

@arnaud-derette said: I does not work in the operator 2 list either (or may be i need to do something more than just put § there ?) Like I said, because you want the § to not have spaces, like in parent§.D, it won’t work for you. § in operators 2 will only work if you can have spaces around the §

@harry-brookes , @peterjones “the devil is in the details” And there are more details than I knew existed. The details have details. It’s easy for a naïve multi-threaded implementation to be slower than a single-threaded implementation, as was demonstrated when @guy038 ran a test of my search on a folder on a USB stick. I’m working now on improving it. It’s incredible how many ways there are to shoot yourself in the foot with multi-threading. I’ll feel validated if I can come up with something that is sometimes better than single-threaded and never worse than single-threaded. It remains to be seen if I can do it.

@Sam-Fourie , It’s been suggested before, as in issue #17430. The developer stated explicitly: It’s not my intesion to “lock” the document by using “Pin a document”. It’s just a way to make the documents grouped in front so users find them more easily. Checked with MS VC Studio, their behaviour is the same as Notepad++, and I think it’s the right behaviour. It works the way the developer wants, and he has rejected the suggestion to make it work the way you want. update: I’m not saying it’s not a good idea. Just that the developer (who is the final decision maker) is the one you’d need to convince. And, given that he’s already rejected the idea, you’d have to come up with something more than “I really want it” to convince him otherwise (and it would have to be posted in the issues tracker, presumably as a reply to the issue I linked, not in the user Community).

User Manual has been updated: Renamed header to “shortcuts.xml Security” and includes mention of Macros as well: https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/config-files/#shortcutsxml-security added Macros Security on the macros page: https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/macros/#macro-security added a paragraph linking to the “shortcuts.xml Security” page in the Running External Commands page: https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/run-menu/#security-is-your-responsibility

For anyone who wants to get rid of that annoying “This file has been modified… Do you want to reload it…” prompt/dialog box, do the following: Go to Settings Click Preferences Click MISC. Under “File Status Auto-Detection” click Disable from the drop-down menu Close

Ah ok. So just noticed this has been implemented after updating to 8.9.7. How do I get around the dialog coming up “security information for shortcuts.xml is missing in config.xml” when I deploy this to multiple computers? I have a “master copy” of a portable installation on a network drive, then update that whenever a new version comes out. There is a batch file on a “client” PC that basically copies that folder from the network drive to a local drive on the client. So every client, whenever they first use a macro, gets this warning and has to validate the shortcuts.xml file. How do I stop this from happening, i.e. how can I make the shortcuts.xml file “trusted” in the master copy on the network drive, so it appears trusted on any other client that happens to download it?