How to search/replace newlines

Chuck Puckett

I’m trying to replace multiple newlines in a file with a single newline, but having no luck.
I tried searching for \n\n (with various options checked and unchecked), but fail to find any. I can find SINGLE newlines, but not two in a row, at least with this syntax.
Could not find any help in the app.
Any suggestions?

Claudia Frank

Hello Chuck-Puckett,

keep in mind that windows uses \r\n as eol.
Where as unix uses \n and mac \r.

Maybe \r\n does the trick.

Cheers
Claudia

Chuck Puckett

I find \r\n, and thanks for that. But my replacement attempts go astray.
What I’m trying to do is make something like this

line 1

line 2

line 3

into this:

line 1
line 2
line 3

I can get of newlines in a selection by replacing \r\n with a space. But I need to eliminate empty lines.

More ideas?

Claudia Frank

Assuming the empty line is really empty I would use regular expression and

find what   : ^$
replace with:

If you press the show all characters, is the line really empty?

Cheers
Claudia

Chuck Puckett

Didn’t think about that. Notepad++ is so much more than Notepad :)
It shows CR LF at thened of each line, CR LF in the blank lines.
Is that equivalent to ^$?

Claudia Frank

Not really
^ marks the beginnig of a line
and $ the end.
^$ means you are looking for lines which basically have nothing then EOL chars.
Therefore replacing wouldn’t hurt other lines.

Cheers
Claudia

Btw. One thing i always forget Edit->Line operation->remove empty lines

Chuck Puckett

Well, really, that last sentence was all I needed. :)
Tnx!
Guess it’s time I spent some time roaming around Notepad++ menus instead of thinking I’m using my grandad’s Notepad. :)