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

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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 !

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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 !

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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

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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