How to delete all lines in a document which has a specific text

D Visser

How to delete all lines in a document which has a specific text ; lets say : (MEX)

guy038

Hello, D. Visser,

I just think about TWO ways to achieve it :

A) With bookmarks
B) With regexes

A) :

Open the Mark dialog ( Search > Mark… )
Type your Your Character|String|Range of Words|Regex expression, in the Find what zone
Check the Bookmark line option
Possibly, check the Purge for each search option ( in order to be sure that the bookmarked lines concern the present search, only ! )
Check/Uncheck the Match whole word only, Match case and Wrap around options, if preferred
For regexes, select the Regular expression search mode
Click on the Mark All button
Close the Mark dialog ( ESC )
Select the menu option Search > Bookmark > Remove Bookmarked Lines

B)

Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
Type (?-s)^.*Your Character|String|Range of Words|Regex expression.*\R, in the Find what zone
Let the Replace with zone EMPTY
Check/Uncheck the Match whole word only, Match case and Wrap around options, if preferred
For a regex expression, select the Regular expression search mode ( IMPORTANT )
Click on the Replace All button

Et voilà !

NOTES :

First, the in-line modifier (?-s) ensures you that the dot meta-character will match standard characters, only, even if you previously checked the . matches newline option !
Then, the regex engine looks, from the beginning of a line (^ ), for any amount, even empty, of characters (.* ), followed by what you’re searching, then followed by any range, even empty, of characters (.* ), till the End of Line character(s) (\R )
Due to the EMPTY Replacement field , this entire line, containing your searched expression, is, therefore, deleted !

Best Regards,

guy038

D Visser

@guy038 said:

(?s)^.*

Thank You guy038 for yr help.
Test however not yet successful.
Ad B replace info:
Please give me the full search string to remove any line which contains the word (MEX)

David

D Visser

Problem solved guy038 via the bookmark method

Thank You

David

guy038

Hi, D visser,

Oh ! you’re right ! Although it was correctly written in the Notes section, the general regex should be :

(?-s)^.*Your Character|String|Range of Words|Regex expression.*\R ( and NOT (?s)..... ! )

So, I updated my previous post !

Below, here are the FOUR search regex, to enter in the Find what zone, in order to delete :

A) All lines containing the string MEX, in that EXACT case

(?-is)^.*MEX.*\R

B) All lines containing the string MEX, WHATEVER its case

(?i-s)^.*MEX.*\R

C) All lines containing the word MEX, in that EXACT case

(?-is)^.*\bMEX\b.*\R

D) All lines containing the word MEX, WHATEVER its case

(?i-s)^.*\bMEX\b.*\R

Notes :

Remember that the Replace with: zone must be EMPTY !
The \b assertions represents, either, the zero-length limit, between :
- ( A non-word character OR the very beginning of a file ) AND a word character
- A word character AND ( a non-word character OR the very end of a file )
The in-line modifier (?-i) forces the search, in a NON-insensitive way
The in-line modifier (?i) forces the search, in a insensitive way

So, suppose the original text, of four lines :

Line 1 : Example ofMEX text
Line 2 : Example ofmeX text
Line 3 : Example of MEX text
Line 4 : Example of MEx text

Then :

The regex A) would delete the lines 1 and 3
The regex B) would delete the lines 1, 2, 3 and 4
The regex C) would delete the line 3
The regex D) would delete the lines 3 and 4

Cheers,

guy038