How to find/replace a character in every specific line

johnny27

Hi,
assume i have 500,000 line ends with comma (,) like this:

test,'number',null,
test,'number',null,
test,'number',null,

i want to find/replace comma (,) with (;) in the end of for example every 50,000 line:

line 1: test,'number',null,
line 50: test,'number',null,
line 50,000: test,'number',null;

is that possible to do with nodepad++ ?

thanks in advance

Alan Kilborn

@johnny27

Here’s an example that will do it for every fifth line:

Open the Replace dialog by pressing Ctrl+h and then set up the following search parameters:

Find what box: (?-s)((?:^.+\R){4}^.+),
Replace with box: \1;
Search mode radiobutton: Regular expression
Wrap around checkbox: ticked

Then press the Replace All button.

The 4 in the search expression is key to doing every 5th line. Adjust for your situation.

guy038

Hello, @johnny27 and All,

Interesting problem ! And easy to solve with, both, regular expressions and the Column Editor ;-))

Here is the road map :

Open your file in Notepad++
Place th caret at the very beginning of the first line
Open the Column Editor ( Alt + C )
Select Number to Insert
Type in 1 in all zones
Tick the Leading zeros option ( IMPORTANT )
Select the Dec format, if necessary
Click on the OK button

=> Each line should be preceded with a 6 digits number !

Now, open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
SEARCH (?-s)^.[50]0000(.+),|^\d{6}
REPLACE ?1\1;
Tick the Wrap around option
Select the Regular expression search mode
Click on the Replace All button

Voila ! Nice isn’t it ?

Notes :

The search regex contains two alternatives :
- First, the (?-s) in-line modifier ensures that any . regex symbol corresponds to a single standard character, only and not to a line-break char !
- Then the part ^.[50]0000 searches for any number of six digits, beginning current line and containing a 0 or a 5 at second position, followed with four 0 digits
- And the part (.+), looks for theremainder of the lines, minus the , character, which is stored as group 1, due to the parentheses
If current line number is not of the form ^.[50]0000, then it, necessarily, matches the second alternative :
- The part ^\d{6} matches the 6 digits number, generated by the Column Editor, which begins any line

The replacement regex contains a conditional replacement (?#....:....) :
- If group 1 exists ( every 50,000 lines ), we rewrites the group 1, followed with a semi-colon
- If group 1 is absent, as the negative part, after a : does not exist, the first 6 digits number of any line are simply deleted

Best Regards,

guy038