Help needed :) Automate deleting number and spacing

Nazrulsyah Firaz Fauzee Andylim · Nov 17, 2016, 2:04 PM

Hi,

I have files with the below format. FYI, there is a spacing between ‘2’ and '10:00:01:00 ', it is some sort induced by the ‘Tab’ key.
2 10:00:01:00 10:00:02:07
When I was a child,

How can I change it to this format without having to do it manually?
10:00:01:00 10:00:02:07
When I was a child,

I really appreciate your advise and assistance! Thanking you in advance :)

Cheers

Claudia Frank · Nov 17, 2016, 11:08 PM

@Nazrulsyah-Firaz-Fauzee-Andylim

What does mean automate in this context?
You open the file and it should magically disappear?
You wanna click a button/execute a script?
Anything else?

There are several solutions I can think of.

Record a macro which puts the cursor into the start of the line, press
delete twice, move cursor to the next line - done - save macro and run it multiple times.
Use search and replace with a regex like
```
^\d+\s+
```

keep replace field empty press replace.
3) Use column mode by pressing left ALT key and select the columns to be removed,
press delete.
4) …

If non of these answer the question, please be more specific what you want and
how data could look like.

Cheers
Claudia

Nazrulsyah Firaz Fauzee Andylim · Nov 21, 2016, 5:12 AM

Thank you Claudia. Allow me to rephrase my query.

These files are in TXT format and I want to have it either in TXT or SRT as the final format.
The original TXT file looks like this.
2 10:00:01:00 10:00:02:07
When I was a child,

This is how I want it to look like.
10:00:01:00 10:00:02:07
When I was a child,

I have 62 files to work on and I am not that sure how to do it in the fastest way. Btw, I tried using your #2 suggestion (regex), but it did not work. I am using Mac.

PeterJones · Nov 21, 2016, 2:53 PM

FIND = ^\d\s+(\d+:)
REPLACE = \1

Input:

1 10:18:75 20:17:21
blah blah
blah blah

2 11:13:55.555  12:13:14
one

3 11:16:21 15:22:34,356
more than one
line in the SRT
goes here

Output

10:18:75 20:17:21
blah blah
blah blah

11:13:55.555  12:13:14
one

11:16:21 15:22:34,356
more than one
line in the SRT
goes here

But if you happen to have text in your caption that looks like a number followed by the time,

2 10:15:16 10:20:30
normal caption

3 11:16:21 15:22:34,356
And my song goes
1 1:21 in the afternoon,
even though that's a silly song

… it will also match the “1 1:21” and change it to “1:21”. If that’s a remote possibility for your captions, @-mention guy038, and ask him how to modify my regex to require either beginning of file or a blank line followed by my regex. I know such things are possible in regex (using lookbehinds, etc), I’m just not that good.

guy038 · Nov 22, 2016, 1:12 AM

Hello Nazrulsyah Firaz Fauzee Andylim, Peter Jones and All

If I fully understand the problem, your first line begins with one or more digits, followed by any spacing, followed by two time values, each of them, separated by a space and written with the template HH:MM:SS:CC ( CC = hundredth of second , from 00 to 99 )

And you would like to delete the first number, at beginning of each line, containing the templates HH:MM:SS:CC, on 62 files, wouldn’t you ? If so :

Backup your 62 TXT files, as the same 62 SRT files ( IMPORTANT )
Open the Find in files dialog ( Ctrl + Shift + F )
In the Find What : zone, type ^\d+\h+(?=\d\d:\d\d:\d\d:\d\d)
Leave the Replace with : zone EMPTY
In the Filters zone, type *.SRT
In the Directory zone, type the absolute location of these 62 SRT files
Select the Regular expression search mode
Uncheck, if necessary, the In all sub-folders and In hidden folders options
Click on the Replace in Files button and click on the OK button to valid that S/R

Et voilà !

Remark : If anything goes wrong, NO panic : just, delete the 62 SRT files, as you STILL get the 62 original TXT files :-)

For instance, from the text below :

2 15:25:23:80 15:25:25:37
Blah, blah
Blah, blah
Blah, blah

.........
.........

7     10:00:01:00 10:00:02:07
When I was a child, I used to go,
2 times per week, to Mr Parker's work-shop
to contemplate, with fascination, all the
automatons, build by the old man. More than
1 hundred, with their sparkling colours, lay
on numerous shelves...

.........
.........

11 03:07:59:77 03:08:01:13
more than one
line in the SRT
goes here

you would obtain, the replaced text below :

15:25:23:80 15:25:25:37
Blah, blah
Blah, blah
Blah, blah

.........
.........

10:00:01:00 10:00:02:07
When I was a child, I used to go,
2 times per week, to Mr Parker's work-shop
to contemplate, with fascination, all the
automatons, build by the old man. More than
1 hundred, with their sparkling colours, lay
on numerous shelves...

.........
.........

03:07:59:77 03:08:01:13
more than one
line in the SRT
goes here

Notes :

Only, the three numbers 2, 7 and 11, at beginning of lines, and the following spacing characters, are deleted
Luckily, the lines, which begin with a number, but not followed by a template, of the form HH:MM:SS:CC, remain unchanged !
From beginning of line ( ^ ), the regex engine looks for a non null range of digits ( \d+ ), followed by some non null spacing characters ( \h+ ).
Then, due to the syntax (?=\d\d:\d\d:\d\d:\d\d), named a positive look-ahead, the regex engine, verifies that, at cursor position, a time value, with the template HH:MM:SS:CC can be found. If so, the overall regex matches that initial number and the spacing, after it.
And, as the Replace zone is EMPTY, it’s , simply, deleted, from the file’s contents

Best Regards,

guy038

P.S. :

BTW, are my two sentences, at middle of the text, looks like “fair” English prose ?!