Replacing all spaces between a string and the newline character

kiyn

I need to replace all spaces, only in the lines that contain the string, only from the string to the newline character.
I couldn’t find a satisfactory expression.
The string is: FILE:///
Every space should be replaced with: %20

Is it possible to do this?
Can anyone help me?
many thanks
thanks a lot

Alan Kilborn

@kiyn

Find: (?-s)(?-i:FILE:///|(?!\A)\G).*?\K\x20
Replace: %20
Search mode: Regular expression

Reference HERE.

kiyn

@Alan-Kilborn

Thank you very much, it works perfectly!

guy038

Hello @kiyn, @alan-kilborn and All,

The @alan-kilborn’s search regex is based on the generic regex below :

https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/22690/generic-regex-replacing-in-a-specific-zone-of-text/

Which allows to replace any string with an other one, ONLY IF that string is found between two boundaries which may be located in a same line or between two different lines

To be rigourous, I slightly modified the @alan-kilborn’s formulation in order to match all the possible cases !

So, let’s suppose this INPUT text :

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Amy Winehouse - Back To Black.mp3

first Test

Second test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Jason Marz|I'm Yours.mp3

FILE:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah Jones - Toes.MP3. Third test

Fourth test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Scorpions - Still Loving You.mp3 fifth and final test

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah Jones - Wake Me Up.MP3

My version is :

SEARCH (?i:FILE:///|(?!\A)\G)(?i:(?!\.mp3).)*?\K\x20
REPLACE %20

And we get, after clicking on the Replace All button ONCE ONLY, the expected OUTPUT text, below :

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Amy%20Winehouse%20-%20Back%20To%20Black.mp3

first Test

Second test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Jason%20Marz|I'm%20Yours.mp3

FILE:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah%20Jones%20-%20Toes.MP3. Third test

Fourth test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Scorpions%20-%20Still%20Loving%20You.mp3 fifth and final test

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah%20Jones%20-%20Wake%20Me%20Up.MP3

You’ll note that ONLY the space chars, between file:/// or FILE:/// and .mp3 or .MP3, are replaced by the %20 string

If you don’t use the \G syntax, you may also run this simplified version :

SEARCH (?i)FILE:///(?:(?!\.mp3).)+?\K\x20
REPLACE %20

But, unlike with the behaviour of the previous regex, you’ll need, this time, to click several times on the Replace All button till you get the message : Replace All: 0 occurrences were replaced ... :-)

Best Regards,

guy038

Alan Kilborn

Note that @guy038 introduced the notion that this is somehow related to mp3 files; I see no such restriction introduced by OP.

guy038

Hi @kiyn, @alan-kilborn and All,

Ah… You right about it, Alan. Sorry, I was concentrating on my example !

So, regarding the general case and to be rigourous, we should use the generic regular expression itself :

SEARCH (?-si:BSR|(?!\A)\G)(?s-i:(?!ESR).)*?\K(?-si:FR)
REPLACE RR

where :

FR = \x20 ( a space char )

RR = %20

BSR = FILE:///

ESR = The end of any link, beginning with file:/// or FILE:/// : for example, \.mp3 or \.com|\.us or simply \.\w{2,}

Notes :

We can replace the (?-si: modifiers, at the beginning of the regex, by the insensitive modifier (?i: only
We can omit the (?s-i: modifiers, in the middle of the regex, and keep only the non-capturing group (?:(?!ESR).)
We can omit the (?-si: modifiers and the non-capturing group, all together, at the end of the regex

So the generic regex can simply be expressed as :

SEARCH (?i:BSR|(?!\A)\G)(?:(?!ESR).)*?\KFR
REPLACE RR

Thus, the functional regex S/R becomes :

SEARCH (?i:FILE:///|(?!\A)\G)(?:(?!\.\w{2,}).)*?\K\x20
REPLACE %20

And from this INPUT text :

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Amy Winehouse - Back To Black.com

first Test

Second test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Jason Marz|I'm Yours.fr

FILE:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah Jones - Toes.us. Third test

Fourth test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Scorpions - Still Loving You.gouv fifth and final test

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah Jones - Wake Me Up.MP3

We get this OUTPUT text :

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Amy%20Winehouse%20-%20Back%20To%20Black.com

first Test

Second test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Jason%20Marz|I'm%20Yours.fr

FILE:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah%20Jones%20-%20Toes.us. Third test

Fourth test file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Scorpions%20-%20Still%20Loving%20You.gouv fifth and final test

file:///D:\Documentation\Musique\Marilyne\Norah%20Jones%20-%20Wake%20Me%20Up.MP3

BR

guy038