about selection

Alan Kilborn

I hope @alan-kilborn won’t have strong opinions against it, ha ha.

Well… :-)

Do it the way you want, but IMO this would be a more proper way, from your examples:

Search: (?s)[^#]+\R\K.*?(?=\R[^#])
Replace: [leave empty]

It doesn’t muddy what one would copy for the search regex, and since “[leave empty]” isn’t a regex it shouldn’t be specially highlighted.

But, really, it is all pointless. Whatever gets your point across.

Lately my ideal way is this:

Find what box: (?s)[^#]+\R\K.*?(?=\R[^#])
Backward direction checkbox: unticked
Match whole word only checkbox: unticked (and disabled)
Match case checkbox: unticked
Wrap around checkbox: unticked
Search mode radiobutton: Regular expression

…because I have a script that grabs that data right off the Find window, and formats it.

astrosofista

@PeterJones said in about selection:

edit: sorry, @astrosofista , for hijacking your thread with this tangent.

Nothing to be sorry about, and for sure the info is quite relevant, so I am paying attention.

astrosofista

@Alan-Kilborn

I get your points and I think they are quite reasonable. However and unfortunately I don’t clearly see the reddish text inside backtickets displayed on a black background —my better option—, so I feel the need to look for other color(s) to easy my reading.

Now, concerning your ideal way of extracting data from the Find window, I like the idea and depending on how much use I could give it, I will probably develop my own, thank you for the inspiration! :-)

Best Regards

Terry R

@astrosofista said in about selection:

reverse all the lines between hashes and only those

@cisco779k said:
@ astrosofista
you understand what I want to do

@cisco779k
I’m aware this problem has largely been solved but thought it an interesting enough exercise to see if another method could be obtained by keeping the file intact and not having to use a plugin or export lines to another file. I think I’ve come up with a solution. It’s not original, indeed I knew of anoher solution employing this technique provided by @guy038 some time ago to pad out numbers (right justify).

So my regex is
Find What:(?-s)(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)?(^[^#]{3}.+\R)
Replace With:\9\8\7\6\5\4\3\2\1

So at the moment it cannot work with more than 9 lines grouped together, however the concept can be expanded to more lines. Each capture group will store a line if AND only if the lines doesn’t start with 3 # characters. Then the Replace With field writes them back in reverse order. As some capture groups will be empty there will be nothing to write.

The only proviso I have is that there must be (in the current form of the regex) a blank line at the bottom of the file. This allows the last line to be captured as part of a group.

my 2cents worth
Terry

astrosofista

Hi @Terry-R, All

Clever idea, I like it. And what I like even more is that it is easy to communicate and to apply, just one step, a S/R replacement. My approach isn’t original as well, and it is really complex, as it involves the BetterMultiSelection plugin, Column Editor, and a macro that mechanizes a regex and a sort to reverse the lines.

However, your method has a curious drawback, as you constraint it to only 9 groups. The good news is that there is no reason to stop here.

Don’t know if I’m guessing too much, but I suspect you were misguided by a syntactic issue, as replacements use the backslash \. I don’t remember where I learn about it, but it is possible to create up to 99 replacement groups, as long as the dollar $ sign is used in them. Hope I am not wrong about this, @guy038 surely knows all the details.

As a test, just add two more groups to the Search field, and enter ($11)($10)$9$8$7$6$5$4$3$2$1 in the Replace box. Worked nice in this sample:

###
one one one one
two two two two
three three three three
four four four four
five five five five
six six six six
seven seven seven seven
eight eight eight eight
nine nine nine nine
ten ten ten ten
eleven eleven eleven eleven
###
eleven eleven eleven eleven
ten ten ten ten
nine nine nine nine
eight eight eight eight
seven seven seven seven
six six six six
five five five five
four four four four
three three three three
two two two two
one one one one
###

Best Regards

Terry R

@astrosofista said in about selection:

as you constraint it to only 9 groups.

Actually I did mention it could be extended and whilst not entirely familiar with the syntax I am aware of the possibility.
The examples provided only went to 5 or so lines so felt no need to get too complex. As I said a solution had been found and this was partly an exercise in testing my idea as it was different. Possibly it might pay, if OP wants to utilise this idea to first find a method to count max number of lines in any group. That is another question to be answered. I did have a regex which can do it, but it was not elegant.

Terry

cisco779k

tanxs Terry! your reg-ex work fine for my intent! tanxs so much.
the rest of the discussion went a little off topic … should be moved to a separate post … anyway thanks to everyone for your attention.

cisco779k

in reality i would just like to invert the first with the last line, in any ### field

Terry R

@cisco779k said in about selection:

in reality i would just like to invert the first with the last line

I’m disappointed, not so much that my solution doesn’t now work as that you have totally changed the problem!
You aren’t the first to pull this stunt and likely won’t be the last but at the moment it is late evening for me so I’m not inclined to bust out my PC just to solve your new problem.

Terry

guy038

Hello, @astrosofista and All,

In a previous post of that discussion, you said :

@guy038, let me ask you a question: how do you create those nice tables? Is a free tool? I’m curious.

Well, in fact, I don’t use any specific tool ! Just the usual column mode editor, with the help, mainly, of 3 characters only :

The Hythen-Minus sign -
The Equals sign =
The Bullet sign •

I personally like the Bullet sign because it is exactly vertically centered ;-)) It’s Unicode code-point is \x{2022}. Refer to :

http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf

Most of the time, you can get it with the keyboard sequence :

Hold down the Alt key
Hit, successively, on keys 0 , 1, 4 and 9 of the numeric keypad
Release the Alt key

Tables composed with that character look better than using the Asterisk sign ( * ) or the Full Stop/Dot char ( . ). See, examples below :

•---------------•--------------•---------------•        *---------------*--------------*---------------*        .---------------.--------------.---------------.
|   LANGUAGE    |  MAIN form   |  OTHER forms  |        |   LANGUAGE    |  MAIN form   |  OTHER forms  |        |   LANGUAGE    |  MAIN form   |  OTHER forms  |
•---------------•--------------•---------------•        *---------------*--------------*---------------*        .---------------.--------------.---------------.
|  bash         |  sh          |  bash         |        |  bash         |  sh          |  bash         |        |  bash         |  sh          |  bash         |
|               |              |               |        |               |              |               |        |               |              |               |
|  c            |  c           |  h            |        |  c            |  c           |  h            |        |  c            |  c           |  h            |
|  c++          |  cpp         |  hpp          |        |  c++          |  cpp         |  hpp          |        |  c++          |  cpp         |  hpp          |
|  c#           |  cs          |               |        |  c#           |  cs          |               |        |  c#           |  cs          |               |
|  CSS          |  css         |               |        |  CSS          |  css         |               |        |  CSS          |  css         |               |
|               |              |               |        |               |              |               |        |               |              |               |
|  DIFF         |  diff        |  patch        |        |  DIFF         |  diff        |  patch        |        |  DIFF         |  diff        |  patch        |
•---------------•--------------•---------------•        *---------------*--------------*---------------*        .---------------.--------------.---------------.
                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                
•===============•==============•===============•        *===============*==============*===============*        .===============.==============.===============.
|   LANGUAGE    |  MAIN form   |  OTHER forms  |        |   LANGUAGE    |  MAIN form   |  OTHER forms  |        |   LANGUAGE    |  MAIN form   |  OTHER forms  |
•===============•==============•===============•        *===============*==============*===============*        .===============.==============.===============.
|  bash         |  sh          |  bash         |        |  bash         |  sh          |  bash         |        |  bash         |  sh          |  bash         |
|---------------•--------------•---------------|        |---------------*--------------*---------------|        |---------------*--------------*---------------|
|  c            |  c           |  h            |        |  c            |  c           |  h            |        |  c            |  c           |  h            |
|  c++          |  cpp         |  hpp          |        |  c++          |  cpp         |  hpp          |        |  c++          |  cpp         |  hpp          |
|  c#           |  cs          |               |        |  c#           |  cs          |               |        |  c#           |  cs          |               |
|  CSS          |  css         |               |        |  CSS          |  css         |               |        |  CSS          |  css         |               |
|---------------•--------------•---------------|        |---------------*--------------*---------------|        |---------------*--------------*---------------|
|  DIFF         |  diff        |  patch        |        |  DIFF         |  diff        |  patch        |        |  DIFF         |  diff        |  patch        |
•===============•==============•===============•        *===============*==============*===============*        .===============.==============.===============.

Best Regards,

guy038

guy038

Hello, @cisco779k, @Terry-r, @astrosofista, @alan-kilborn and All,

You said in your last post :

in reality i would just like to invert the first with the last line, in any ### field

Then, given the input text below :

pacecececrst$$$!                   pacecececrst$$$!
###                                ###
peerfergeg4Me<123                  ergergerge34r43r343
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
ergergerggupload.com/filerge       17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kAerAP3_WO-g/1554th0810.7zg
ergergerge34r43r343                peerfergeg4Me<123
###                                ###
pasdcd555ye2018                    15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp
6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56ove       6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56oveKPp6w/erferfef3443r3434
15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp            pasdcd555ye2018
###                                ###
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
###                                ###
paerf3904r903ur3jgj                paerf3904r903ur3jgj

The following regex S/R :

SEARCH (?-s)^(###.+\R)(.+\R)((?:.+\R)*?)(.+\R)(?=^###)

REPLACE \1\4\3\2

should get your expected text :

pacecececrst$$$!                   pacecececrst$$$!
###                                ###
ergergerge34r43r343                peerfergeg4Me<123
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
ergergerggupload.com/filerge       17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kAerAP3_WO-g/1554th0810.7zg
peerfergeg4Me<123                  ergergerge34r43r343
###                                ###
15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp            pasdcd555ye2018
6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56ove       6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56oveKPp6w/erferfef3443r3434
pasdcd555ye2018                    15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp
###                                ###
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
###                                ###
paerf3904r903ur3jgj                paerf3904r903ur3jgj

Best Regards,

guy038

cisco779k

@Terry-R
do not angry! your regex work fine.

@guy038
tanxs (ever) for your help!
but not work for me… why??
in some cases i also have 9 lines (between ### field)…

alt text

cisco779k

@guy038
your reg-ex don’t work…
please read this post!

guy038

Hello, @cisco779k, @Terry-r, @astrosofista, @alan-kilborn and All,

Please, don’t be so rude : I’m only trying to help, freely and I also answer to other people !

You said, previously :

in reality i would just like to invert the first with the last line, in any ### field

and also :

in some cases i also have 9 lines (between ### field)…

But, given the initial text, below, ( which may not respect your logic ! Just an example )

###                                ###
1234567890                         1234567890
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp            pasdcd555ye2018
6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56ove       6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56oveKPp6w/erferfef3443r3434
pasdcd555ye2018                    15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
ergergerggupload.com/filerge       17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kAerAP3_WO-g/1554th0810.7zg
ergergerge34r43r343                peerfergeg4Me<123
0987676543210                      0987676543210
###                                ###

after running my regex S/R :

SEARCH (?-s)^(###.+\R)(.+\R)((?:.+\R)*?)(.+\R)(?=^###)

REPLACE \1\4\3\2

it does give the expected text :

###                                ###
0987676543210                      0987676543210
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp            pasdcd555ye2018
6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56ove       6664lekrflkeuN3s5lmSigp56oveKPp6w/erferfef3443r3434
pasdcd555ye2018                    15o4fkfk4lf,dfmemfgermp
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
ergergerggupload.com/filerge       17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kAerAP3_WO-g/1554th0810.7zg
ergergerge34r43r343                peerfergeg4Me<123
1234567890                         1234567890
###                                ###

Obviously, the first and last line, made of digits only, are inverted ! So what ?

Best regards,

guy038

astrosofista

Hi @guy038, All

Thank you for getting back to me. I am too a big fan of the bullet • —the symbol, not the projectile :)—. In my numeric keypad the bullet is typed by the sequence you mentioned and also with just Alt + numpad7, but as I used it a lot, usually get it through a hotstring, a triple ooo, which I can easily remember.

Concerning your samples, I agree that the bullet looks better than asterisks and dots in ASCII tables. The adding sign + also looks fine when used for crossing single lines.

I began to see the seemingly next step in tables, the ones constructed with Unicode characters, but I didn´t found the time yet to deal with them.

Well, that’s enough for me and sorry for hijacking the thread.

Best Regards.

astrosofista

@Terry-R said in about selection:

find a method to count max number of lines in any group. That is another question to be answered. I did have a regex which can do it, but it was not elegant.

Nice and tricky puzzle. Don’t know if it is elegant or not — another question related to the eye of the beholder —, but found a regex solution for it, a long string of 172 characters for the search expression that matches groups up to 10 lines. Can post it, if interested.

Best Regards.

cisco779k

@guy038
I wanted to recall the post, since i didn’t see answers after 2 days and i don’t know how else to contact you. I didn’t want to be rude, it was fair to close the question…

well: you have read my post above? with your reply you have published same reg-ex of your previous post.
and not work for me… same reg-ex.
perhaps it is i who do not understand.
now i have this example:

###
peerfergeg4Me<123
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU
ergergerggupload.com/filerge
ergergerge34r43r343
###

this is only 5 line, but on some case i have field to 9 lines.
i want reverse first with last line like this:

###
ergergerge34r43r343
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU
ergergerggupload.com/filerge
peerfergeg4Me<123
###

on this example your reg-ex not work (for me).

Ekopalypse

@cisco779k

What I find confusing is that, when asked again, not to take the trouble
to explain exactly where the problem is and what you expect to get as a result.

For example your mail from 2 days ago.
You write that in some cases it may be that between the ### lines
can also be 9 lines to be found and give 5 lines as an example. Confuses me.

The whole thing suggests that there could be 10 or 15 or only 2 or 3 lines.
You see what I mean?

The better and more precise you can ask your question the easier it is for others to help you.
If there are problems with the language, I would use an online translator for what I am doing right now.
They get better and better the more they are used.

guy038

Hello, @cisco779k, @Terry-r, @astrosofista, @alan-kilborn and All,

Oh…, @cisco779k, I’m sorry ! I did not notice the differences between your example, below :

###
ergergerge34r43r343
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU
ergergerggupload.com/filerge
peerfergeg4Me<123
###

and my example :

###                                ###
ergergerge34r43r343                peerfergeg4Me<123
17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kA       ergergerggupload.com/filerge/uU8CesyKVkPb4MWk_0VqkQ/1554th11.7z
1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrU       1ergergergegQy2iSLvFyoduWHrUjN7g/1554th18.7zg
ergergerggupload.com/filerge       17ergergom/file/wv7PNHVud9kAerAP3_WO-g/1554th0810.7zg
peerfergeg4Me<123                  ergergerge34r43r343
###                                ###

In your example, the header string ### is immediately followed with a line-break
In mime, the header string ### is followed with blank chars and an other string ###

So the obvious correction to do is to use the following S/R :

SEARCH (?-s)^(###.*\R)(.+\R)((?:.+\R)*?)(.+\R)(?=^###)

REPLACE \1\4\3\2

As you see, only the first + symbol, of the regex, has been changed into a * symbol, meaning that string ###, beginning the line ( ^ ), must be followed by 0 to n standard characters (.* ) before the line-break ( \R ) !

I should have remarked this difference before which would have avoided you to post again ;-))

Best Regards,

guy038

cisco779k

@guy038 tanxs you so much for your explanation and for modification to your reg-ex!
now it works very well!
I never said I had an example like yours, but maybe it’s my fault that I didn’t explain myself well …
everything is working fine now. always thanks for your regex!
cheers