How to write a find ane replace experssion

attathomeguy · Dec 28, 2015, 12:50 AM

I am trying to add back some formatting removed by a stupid program and I thought I could write a search and replace expression to make all the text in the rest of the file look like the first 2 lines where there would be a CR break after the first number in one huge line of text. Any ideas?

17:30:19:>>> WELCOME TO TEMPE, ARIZONA,
17:30:22:THE WELLS FARGO ARENA, HOME OF
17:30:24:THE SUN DEVILS OF ARIZONA STATE17:30:26:UNIVERSITY.17:30:27:ASU GETTING SET TO TAKE ON17:30:29:KENNESAW STATE.17:30:30:PART OF THE LEGENDS

guy038 · Dec 28, 2015, 12:13 PM

Hello attathomeguy,

Easy enough, with regular expressions :-))

Open the Replace dialog ( CTRL + H )
SEARCH .(?=\d\d:\d\d:\d\d:)
REPLACE $0\r\n
Check the Regular expression search mode
Leave the . matches newline option UNchecked
if necessary, check the Wrap around option
Click on the Replace All button

Et voilà !

Notes :

The dot ( . ) represents any standard character ( different from \r, \n and \f )
The syntax (?=\d\d:\d\d:\d\d:) is called a look-ahead, that looks, after the dot, for 3 sets of two digits, each of them followed with a colon. However, although this condition must be true, it’s NEVER part of the regex to be replaced. Therefore, the search regex is, only, the character just before the time syntax HH:MM:SS.
The $0, in the replacement part, represents the entire regex matched, that is to say, the dot, which must be separated, from the HH:MM:SS form, with a line break ( \r\n ). If you use UNIX files, just change \r\n into \n.

So, the last line of your post :

17:30:24:THE SUN DEVILS OF ARIZONA STATE17:30:26:UNIVERSITY.17:30:27:ASU GETTING SET TO TAKE ON17:30:29:KENNESAW STATE.17:30:30:PART OF THE LEGENDS

will be replaced by the five lines below :

17:30:24:THE SUN DEVILS OF ARIZONA STATE
17:30:26:UNIVERSITY.
17:30:27:ASU GETTING SET TO TAKE ON
17:30:29:KENNESAW STATE.
17:30:30:PART OF THE LEGENDS

Best Regards,

guy038

P.S. :

You’ll find good documentation, about the new Boost C++ Regex library ( similar to the PERL Regular Common Expressions ) used by Notepad++, since the 6.0 version, at the TWO addresses below :

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_48_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_48_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/format/boost_format_syntax.html

The FIRST link explains the syntax, of regular expressions, in the SEARCH part
The SECOND link explains the syntax, of regular expressions, in the REPLACEMENT part

attathomeguy · Dec 28, 2015, 7:17 PM

THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT WORKED GREAT!