'Find and Replace' question

Oleg Nemchenko

Hello!
Need lots of editing from say PR1=‘0066’ or PR1=‘3601’ or PR1=‘3722’ … to same, but without quotation marks and wise versa.
Is there any way to do it with help of find and replace?

Claudia Frank

@Oleg-Nemchenko

taking your short description, you could use regular expression in find/replace.

(?<=PR1=)'*\d+'*

which means regex is looking for numbers which are/aren’t encased by single quotes and must be prefixed by PR1= .

In replace put the number you want to have.

Cheers
Claudia

Oleg Nemchenko

Thank you so much Claudia!
That code actually works and finds all the instances it supposed to.
But I have problems with replacement now…
It should be same numbers with same sequence, just without quotes - like, PR1=‘0066’ or PR1=‘3601’ or PR1=‘3722’… after replacement should be -> PR1=0066 or PR1=3601 or PR1=3722…
Is it possible to make find and replace to leave the same numbers after adding or deleting quotes?
Mb there is other way to add/delete quotes in sequence where PR1= is constant, but numbers are different and just randomly assigned?

Claudia Frank

@Oleg-Nemchenko

you just wanna get rid of the single quotes?
PR1= and number should stay?

Cheers
Claudia

Oleg Nemchenko

That`s correct. PR1=and number should stay for each instance of PR1=number1, PR1=number2 …PR1=numberN

Claudia Frank

@Oleg-Nemchenko

not the most elegant but in find what use

(?<=PR1=)(')(\d+)(')

and in replace with use backslash 2

\2

Cheers
Claudia

Oleg Nemchenko

@Claudia-Frank said:

@Oleg-Nemchenko
(?<=PR1=)(')(\d+)(')
and in replace with use backslash 2
\2
Cheers
Claudia

Thank you so so much! Pure magic! :)

Claudia Frank

@Oleg-Nemchenko

you’re welcome - but if you really wanna see pure magic checkout
the regex tips from guy038 and the other regex gurus :-D

Cheers
Claudia

Oleg Nemchenko

That`s my plan :)

guy038

Hello @oleg-nemchenko, @claudia-frank and All,

Or even more simple :

SEARCH (?<=PR1=)'(\d+)'

REPLACE \1

Notes :

If necessary, check the Match case option, if the case pr=1 may happen !
Due to the look-behind feature (?<=PR1=), you cannot use the Replace button, successively and must, exclusively, use the Replace All button !!

Cheers,

guy038

P.S. :

For newby people, about regular expressions concept and syntax, begin with that article, in N++ Wiki :

http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/Regular_Expressions

In addition, you’ll find good documentation, about the Boost C++ Regex library, v1.55.0 ( similar to the PERL Regular Common Expressions, v5.8 ), used by Notepad++, since its 6.0 version, at the TWO addresses below :

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_55_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_55_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/format/boost_format_syntax.html

The FIRST link explains the syntax, of regular expressions, in the SEARCH part
The SECOND link explains the syntax, of regular expressions, in the REPLACEMENT part

You may, also, look for valuable informations, on the sites, below :

http://www.regular-expressions.info

http://www.rexegg.com

http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html

Be aware that, as any documentation, it may contain some errors ! Anyway, if you detected one, that’s good news : you’re improving ;-))

Oleg Nemchenko

Hello @guy038,

Thank you so much for taking your time and answering in this theme!
Could you also help with reverse replacement: adding quotation marks before and after numbers (it`s always 4 numbers in a row preceding by PR1=) like PR1=0066 or PR1=3601 or PR1=3722 -> PR1=‘0066’ or PR1=‘3601’ or PR1=‘3722’

Scott Sumner

@Oleg-Nemchenko

I would do it like this:

Note: Before text: PR1='0123' PR1=7777 PR1='0000' PR1=3456

Case 1: PR1=‘1234’ —> PR1=1234 (remove quotes):

Find-what zone: (?-i)PR1='(\d{4})'
Replace-with zone: PR1=\1
After text: PR1=0123 PR1=7777 PR1=0000 PR1=3456

Case 2: PR1=1234 —> PR1=‘1234’ (add quotes):

Find-what zone: (?-i)PR1=(\d{4})
Replace-with zone: PR1='\1'
After text: PR1='0123' PR1='7777' PR1='0000' PR1='3456'

Case 3: PR1=‘1234’ —> PR1=1234 & at same time PR1=4321 —> PR1=‘4321’ (add and remove quotes at same time):

Find-what zone: (?-i)PR1=(')?(\d{4})(')?
Replace-with zone: PR1=(?1:')\2(?3:')
After text: PR1=0123 PR1='7777' PR1=0000 PR1='3456'

For any of these cases, you do not have to use the Replace All button, although you may. Find Next and Replace combinations to selectively replace is fine.

Oleg Nemchenko

@Scott-Sumner that`s amazing. Thank you very much for your help!