Copy and Replace

[COURTNEY s]

Hi! I have multiple files that I would like to change using a find and replace function. Each file has different text on line 5, and ‘EN’ as the last line. I would like to find a way to copy Line 5 and paste within a new text statement everytime it states ‘EN’ on multiple files without entering each one.

Example:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
1234
EN

Replace with :
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
1234
New text 1234
EN

Is there a way to do this without going into each file?

[PeterJones]

Your spec is rather ambiguous, but I think this will do what you asked for (in that it mimics the output):

• Find what : (?-s)^(.*$\R)^(EN)$
• Replace with : $1New text $1$2
• ☑ Regular Expression
• Make sure you’re on the Find in Files tab

Find details:

• (?-s) = make sure . does not match EOL characters (this will ensure that the next parenthetical will only match one line’s worth
• () = Everything inside parentheses gets put into the next $# variable
• ^ = matches the beginning of a line
• $ = matches the end of a line
• \R = matches the EOL character sequence (whether it’s a linux LF or windows CR+LF or old mac CR)
• ^(.*$\R) = combining concepts above: match all the text between the start and end of line, plus the EOL sequence, and store it all in $1
• ^(EN)$ = match the entire line matching EN, and store EN in $2

Replace details:

• $1: quote the values in $1, so it will be the fifth line and its new-line sequence
• new text $1: add “New text”, followed by a space and the full contents of the fifth line (including its newline)
• $2: quote the EN

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P.S. :
(paraphrasing @guy038, the forum’s regex guru, who compiled these great regex resources, but hasn’t shared them in this thread yet):

Here is a good starting point for NPP users unfamiliar with regular expression concepts and syntax:

• http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/Regular_Expressions

Modern Notepad++ (since v6.0) uses the Boost C++ Regex library, v1.55.0 (similar to the Perl Regular Common Expressions (PRCE), v5.8):

• search syntax: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_55_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html
• replace syntax: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_55_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/format/boost_format_syntax.html

Other sites with valuable regular expression information include:

• http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html
• http://www.regular-expressions.info
• http://www.rexegg.com