Searching something for automatition

Holger Hasenmüller

Fellow Notepad++ Users,

Could you please help me the the following search-and-replace problem I am having?

DESCRIBE CIRCUMSTANCES OF YOUR QUESTION

Here is the data I currently have (“before” data):

lala.bubu@email.com
peter.sillie@email.com
hans.klammer@email.com

Here is how I would like that data to look (“after” data):

lala.bubu@email.com;peter.sillie@email.com;hans.klammer@email.com

To accomplish this, I have tried using the following Find/Replace expressions and settings

Find What = `.com`
Replace With = `.com;`
Search Mode = NORMAL

I am looking for a way (similar to Autoit) to automate certain things in Notepad++. Like a macro recording. Using Notepad++ I could search and replace .com with .com; but then after that I am using the keyboard to hit the end key and then the delete key to make the 2nd line come up to the first line and so on. How can I solve this?

Unfortunately, this did not produce the output I desired, and I’m not sure why. Could you please help me understand what went wrong and help me find the solution?

Thank you.

Neil Schipper

@holger-hasenmüller said in Searching something for automatition:

Like a macro recording. Using Notepad++ I could search and replace .com with .com; but then after that I am using the keyboard to hit the end key and then the delete key to make the 2nd line come up to the first line and so on. How can I solve this?

You are super close to solving your own problem without fancy F&R techniques.

Do at least one simple normal Find of .com as you already did (to “load” the Find “machinery”). Dismiss the Find dialog and press F3 a few times and observe it working.

Now cursor to file home (or to start of first line with an email address).

Start macro recording.
<F3><END>;<Del>
End macro recording.

Now run the macro a few times with Ctl-Shift-p to confirm operation is as expected. Then you can run it Multiple Times... using suitable options for your need.

If you’d also like to experience use of a sophisticated F&R technique, take a look at this post. It shows how to join adjacent non-empty lines into single lines using a Regular Expression F&R, which is what you want except that, to meet your need, instead of replacing each newline with nothing, you would replace with ;.

guy038

Hello, @holger-hasenmüller, @neil-schipper and All,

@holger-hasenmüller, a quick solution is possible using the Regular expression search mode :

Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
- SEARCH (?-s)@[a-z]+\.[a-z]+\K\R(?=.)
- REPLACE ;
- Tick the Wrap around option
- Select the Regular expression serach mode
- Click, once, on the Replace All button ( Do not use the Replace button ! )
Hit the Esc key to close the Replace dialog

So, for instance, from this INPUT text :

Start of text
Yeaaaaah !

lala.bubu@email.com
peter.sillie@email.com
hans.klammer@email.com


blah blah
bla bla

This is a test
OK


lala.bubu@email.net
peter.sillie@email.gov
hans.klammer@email.fr

End of text

you would get the OUTPUT text below :

Start of text
Yeaaaaah !

lala.bubu@email.com;peter.sillie@email.com;hans.klammer@email.com


blah blah
bla bla

This is a test
OK


lala.bubu@email.net;peter.sillie@email.gov;hans.klammer@email.fr

End of text

Best Regards,

guy038

Holger Hasenmüller

@guy038 said in Searching something for automatition:

guy038

Hi guy038,

that’s pretty cool.

Thank you very much