Adding a character and a number (as part of a sequence) at the end of each line

Viktoria Ontapado

Hello All,

I have a long list of words:

apple
apricot
avocado
banana
blackberry
blackcurrant
.
.
.

and I’d like to achieve the following format:

apple/1
apple/2
apple/3
apple/4
apple/5
apple/6
apricot/1
apricot/2
apricot/3
apricot/4
apricot/5
apricot/6
avocado/1
avocado/2
avocado/3
avocado/4
avocado/5
avocado/6
banana/1
banana/2
banana/3
banana/4
banana/5
banana/6
blackberry/1
blackberry/2
blackberry/3
blackberry/4
blackberry/5
blackberry/6
blackcurrant/1
blackcurrant/2
blackcurrant/3
blackcurrant/4
blackcurrant/5
blackcurrant/6
.
.
.

Every fruit needs exactly six instances.
What way can I achieve this?

Thank you and have a nice day,
Viktoria

Meta Chuh

@Viktoria-Ontapado

in your given example you can do this by doing a search/replace using regular expressions
open the search replace window and select regular expression in the lower left corner

then use following search/replace strings:
find what: ^(.*?)$
replace with: $1/1\r\n$1/2\r\n$1/3\r\n$1/4\r\n$1/5\r\n$1/6

and hit replace all

so if your text was:
apple
apricot
avocado
banana
blackberry
blackcurrant

you will get:
apple/1
apple/2
apple/3
apple/4
apple/5
apple/6
apricot/1
apricot/2
apricot/3
apricot/4
apricot/5
apricot/6
avocado/1
avocado/2
avocado/3
avocado/4
avocado/5
avocado/6
banana/1
banana/2
banana/3
banana/4
banana/5
banana/6
blackberry/1
blackberry/2
blackberry/3
blackberry/4
blackberry/5
blackberry/6
blackcurrant/1
blackcurrant/2
blackcurrant/3
blackcurrant/4
blackcurrant/5
blackcurrant/6

Viktoria Ontapado

Dear @Meta Chuh,

Thank you so much for your help, this is exactly what I wanted.

Just theoretically, if the number of instances would be much higher and every fruit needs for example 100 lines, so the final text displayed as:

apple/1
apple/2
apple/3
.
.
.
apple/100
apricot/1
apricot/2
apricot/3
.
.
.
apricot/100
.
.
.

is there any shorter formula that can do that so no need to type your expression individually to <...$1/99\r\n$1/100>

I tried to edit your replace field you provided but I’m not at this level of understanding and had no success.

Thank you,
Victoria

guy038

Hello, @viktoria-ontapado, and All,

Here is my solution, for any number of repetitions !

Assuming, for instance, your initial block of text, with the 6 lines, as below :

apple
apricot
avocado
banana
blackberry
blackcurrant

First, paste this block in a new tab, with a line break after the sixth line ( IMPORTANT )
Display the Line Numbers column with the menu option Settings > Preferences… > Editing > Display line number

Now, if you want to get, let’s say, 50 values of each fruit , that means that your total text will contain 6 x 50 = 300 lines

So, select the entire block ( Ctrl + A )
Hold down the Ctrl + D shortcut, while having a look, in the bottom status bar, at the part lines: xxx
And release the keys, as soon as you get the number 301
Now, move back at beginning, if necessary ( Ctrl + Home )
Open the column editor ( Alt + C )
- Choose the Number to Insert feature
- Fill in the number 1 in the Initial number and Increase by boxes
- Type in the number 6 in the Repeat zone ( your number of fruits )
- Check the Leading zeros box ( IMPORTANT )
- Select, if necessary, the dec format
- Click on the OK button
Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
- In the Find what: box, fill in the regex (?-s)(\d+)(.+)
- In the Replace with: box, fill in the regex \2/\1
- Check the Wrap around and Regular expression options
- Click on the Replace All button

=> In each line, the numbers and the fruit’s names are swapped, separated by the / symbol !

Finally, perform a classic alphabetic sort, using the option Edit > Line Operations > Sort Lines Lexicographically Ascending

Et voilà !

Optionally, you may get rid of the leading zeros, in numbers, with the simple regex S/R :

SEARCH /0+

REPLACE /

Best Regards,

guy038

Viktoria Ontapado

Hello @guy038,

I was hoping you could check this topic.

Thank you very much for your creative solution, I really appreciate it.
I’ve already tested it with my other lists and it’s working like a charm.

Have a nice week,
Viktória