Help needed :) Automate deleting number and spacing
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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
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@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.
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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 -
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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.
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FIND =
^\d\s+(\d+:)
REPLACE =\1Input:
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 hereOutput
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 hereBut 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.
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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 )
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Open the Find in files dialog ( Ctrl + Shift + F )
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In the Find What : zone, type
^\d+\h+(?=\d\d:\d\d:\d\d:\d\d) -
Leave the Replace with : zone EMPTY
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In the Filters zone, type
*.SRT -
In the Directory zone, type the absolute location of these 62 SRT files
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Select the Regular expression search mode
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Uncheck, if necessary, the In all sub-folders and In hidden folders options
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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 hereyou 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 hereNotes :
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Only, the three numbers 2, 7 and 11, at beginning of lines, and the following spacing characters, are deleted
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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 templateHH:MM:SS:CCcan 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 ?!
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