Indeed, Scott gave you the right link to the related discussion to your problem ! But, as this discussion contains many posts and as you could be a bit “lost”, I think that I’m able to build a suitable regex for your needs :-))

You said, in your first post :

I want to replace those names for numeric codes

And you gave an example, with 4 forenames ( I just copied real text ! ) :

<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
....
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
...
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
...
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>

which have to be replaced by the 4 numeric codes ( Again, I just copied real text, not the regex ! ) :

<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498358092</MANUFACTURER_PID>
...
<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498311593</MANUFACTURER_PID>
...
<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498319913</MANUFACTURER_PID>
...
<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498351833</MANUFACTURER_PID>

So I suppose that you have a specific file which links up these forenames to the numeric codes, and vice-versa. I mean, a file like that :

Luis : 07498358092
Rosa : 07498311593
Ernesto : 07498319913
Matias : 07498351833

or, may be, like that :

07498358092 = Luis
07498311593 = Rosa
07498319913 = Ernesto
07498351833 = Matias

Just tell me the structure of this specific file ( that I call the links file ), and we’ll be able to get the right regex S/R, which allows the change of any number of names, possibly repeated, with their respective numeric codes ( even 52000 items ! ) in one step, only :-))

Remarks :

• ONE condition is mandatory : In this links file, all the names and numeric codes must be UNIQUE !

• The order of names, in the initial text, can be completely different than the order they occur, in the links file. No problem !

• And, as I said above, some names may be repeated, in the text to be changed. No problem, too !

See you later,

Best Regards,

guy038

If I’m interpreting you correctly then see if this thread helps you: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/14548/help-replacing

If it doesn’t, post again here…

now let me explain why I go this way. I am working with a very large XML file, it has mmillions of lines. the lines that I want to replace are among many many lines that I don’t want to touch.
to be clear there are 51200 lines that I want to replace, those are like the ones in my examples. I need to replace them with other 51200 lines that instead of having names like Rosa, Luis, etc. they have numeric codes just like the examples.

I would go as you say placing the text in the find box like this:
(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>)|(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>)| ETC…
in a horizontal way and doing the same in the same in the replace box like this:
(?1<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498358092</MANUFACTURER_PID>)(?2<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498311593</MANUFACTURER_PID>)…

but as I mentioned I have to put in there in the find and also in the replace boxe 51200 pieces of text so I have no way to do that.
in this forum I am not able to attach anything but I will try to generate links fot the files I am working with so maybe you can take a look.

thanks a lot

I did NOT suggest sorting lines…maybe we have a language barrier.

If I start with these lines:

<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>
<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>

and do the replacement I suggested above (which isn’t really different from your original one), I get this (which looks correct and has no empty lines):

So without more information I can’t say what is going wrong for you. :-(

(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>)|(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>) etc.

the replacement works but when I do it I get empty lines in between like this:

<MANUFACTURER_PID>012345678910</MANUFACTURER_PID>

<MANUFACTURER_PID>012345678911</MANUFACTURER_PID>

I cannnot sort my text in a horizontal way like you mentioned because is part of a very large XML file

Your replacement works for me pretty much as you stated it. This may be a key point as to why it isn’t working:

important to mention that my text is sorted in vertical just like I put it here

…but I don’t understand what it means.

I used your data with these exact fields for regex replacement:

Find what:

(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Luis</MANUFACTURER_PID>)|(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Rosa</MANUFACTURER_PID>)|(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Ernesto</MANUFACTURER_PID>)|(<MANUFACTURER_PID>Matias</MANUFACTURER_PID>)

Replace with:

(?1<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498358092</MANUFACTURER_PID>)(?2<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498311593</MANUFACTURER_PID>)(?3<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498319913</MANUFACTURER_PID>)(?4<MANUFACTURER_PID>07498351833</MANUFACTURER_PID>)