Line Comment position

oirfeodent oirfeodent

hi Community,
Is there an option to place the line comments at the first column instead of placing before the first character.
Eg: The below needs to be achieved.

// TEST This is expected comment

The below is what is happening.

// TEST This is actual comment

Any setting to achieve, placing the comment chars at the very beginning of the line?

Regards,

guy038

Hello oirfeodent oirfeodent,

I don’t think that there a native option to do so. But it’s very easy to get it, with a simple regex !

For instance, if we consider the comment characters, used in languages C, C#, C++ ( and some others ! ) :

Open the Find/Replace dialog ( CTRL + H )
Check the Wrap around option
Select the Regular expression search mode
SEARCH = ^( +)(//|/\*|\*/)
REPLACE = \2\1
Click on the Replade All button

Voilà !

So, if we start this the C text, below :

         /* Here is
              a way to move
                the comments
                  at the very
                beginning
            of a line
         */
                  // Final test

after the S/R, we get the C text, below :

/*          Here is
              a way to move
                the comments
                  at the very
                beginning
            of a line
*/         
//                   Final test

Notes :

This regex is quite simple. Just note that :

The space characters and the comment character, enclosed in round brackets, are stored, respectively, at groups 1 and 2
In group 2, the star meta-character needs to be escaped, as \*, in order to be taken literally
In replacement, the two groups are, simply, swapped !

IMPORTANT :

If your text contains leading tabulations, instead of spaces, this regex will, unfortunately, modify the original indentation of the comment text. Just because the physical length of a tabulation character depends, of course, on its location, in a line

To avoid this behaviour, if you don’t mind, you may, previously, change all the tabulation characters by space characters
with the N++ option Edit - Blank operations - TAB to Space

Best Regards,

guy038

MAPJe71

I think the OP is referring to the Ctrl+Q and/or Ctrl+K line-(un-)comment shortcuts.

oirfeodent oirfeodent

Hi guy038 & MAPJe71,

Thx for your response. I was referring to line (un)comment shortcuts.
If they are not available natively, can I submit a patch?

https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/pull/2394

The above pull request is added, is there any thing else required for submitting pull requests?
I am new to this forum, let me know if I have missed something.

Reagrds,