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Copying contents between a specific string and a character

  • Viktoria Ontapado

    Hi All!
    I’d like to request a bit of help with the following.
    I have a text-file (converted from an e-book) with a structure like this:

    9/Maywood

    Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

    Albums:
    1983 - Het beste van Maywood
    1987 - Beside You
    1990 - Achter De Horizon
    1991 - 6 Of The Thirties

    10/Talking Heads

    Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

    Albums:
    Fear of Music (1979)
    Remain in Light (1980)

    11/Sly and the Family Stone

    Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

    Albums:
    1968: Life
    1969: Stand!
    1971: There’s a Riot Goin’ On

    12/Delaney & Bonnie

    Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

    Albums:
    To Bonnie from Delaney - Atco, 1970
    Motel Shot - Atco, 1971
    Country Life - Atco, 1972
    D&B Together - Columbia, 1972

    13/Mother’s Finest

    Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

    Albums:
    Iron Age (1981), Atlantic

    14/INXS

    Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

    Albums:
    Shabooh Shoobah (1982)
    The Swing (1984)
    Listen Like Thieves (1985)

    and so on…containing approx. 800 bands.

    I need a file containing only the albums ("Albums:’ line included) uninterruptedly in the following format:

    Albums:
    1983 - Het beste van Maywood
    1987 - Beside You
    1990 - Achter De Horizon
    1991 - 6 Of The Thirties
    Albums:
    Fear of Music (1979)
    Remain in Light (1980)
    Albums:
    1968: Life
    1969: Stand!
    1971: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
    Albums:
    To Bonnie from Delaney - Atco, 1970
    Motel Shot - Atco, 1971
    Country Life - Atco, 1972
    D&B Together - Columbia, 1972
    Albums:
    Iron Age (1981), Atlantic
    Albums:
    Shabooh Shoobah (1982)
    The Swing (1984)
    Listen Like Thieves (1985)
    .
    .
    .

    What way can I achieve this?
    So the line “Albums:” is constant in the original file and every page starts with page number/band so slash is steadily presented as well.

    I guess somehow we can copy the texts between these two and go from there?

    Thank you so much and have a nice day,
    Viktoria

    2 Scott Sumner 1 Reply
  • Scott Sumner

    @Viktoria-Ontapado

    Using the technique from @guy038 in this thread; specifically:

    SEARCH : (?s).*?(Your Regex)|.*

    and substituting

    ?:^(Albums:\R.*?\R)\R into it for Your Regex

    I was able to arrive at your desired result.

    So, in summary:

    Find what zone: (?s).*?(?:^(Albums:\R.*?\R)\R)|.*
    Replace with zone: \1
    Search mode: Regular expression
    Action: Replace or Replace All
    Note: This is a destructive replacement, not a copy, so if you need the original data, make a copy of it first and then perform this operation on the copy.

    BTW, very nice sample data and discussion about what you wanted!

    1
  • guy038

    Hello, @viktoria-ontapado, and All,

    Again, easy task with the help of regular expressions ;-))

    From your example, seemingly, the areas of text to delete must :

    • Begins after two consecutive line breaks ( CR LF CR LF ), so the regex \R\R

    • Ends right before the string Albums:, beginning a line, so the look-ahead (?=\RAlbums)

    • In between, we have to select the shortest range of any character(s), between these boundaries, even split on several lines, so the regex (?s).*?

    So :

    • Possibly, add two lines breaks, at the very beginning of your list

    • Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )

    SEARCH \R\R(?s).*?(?=\RAlbums:)

    REPLACE Leave EMPTY

    • Select the Regular expression search mode

    • Set the Wrap around option

    • Click, once on the Replace All button OR several times on the Replace button

    Et voilà !

    So, given your list, below :

    

9/Maywood

Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

Albums:
1983 - Het beste van Maywood
1987 - Beside You
1990 - Achter De Horizon
1991 - 6 Of The Thirties

10/Talking Heads

Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

Albums:
Fear of Music (1979)
Remain in Light (1980)

11/Sly and the Family Stone

Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

Albums:
1968: Life
1969: Stand!
1971: There’s a Riot Goin’ On

12/Delaney & Bonnie

Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

Albums:
To Bonnie from Delaney - Atco, 1970
Motel Shot - Atco, 1971
Country Life - Atco, 1972
D&B Together - Columbia, 1972

13/Mother’s Finest

Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

Albums:
Iron Age (1981), Atlantic

14/INXS

Description of the band, stories and anecdotes about them, etc.

Albums:
Shabooh Shoobah (1982)
The Swing (1984)
Listen Like Thieves (1985)

    You should get the expected text :

    
Albums:
1983 - Het beste van Maywood
1987 - Beside You
1990 - Achter De Horizon
1991 - 6 Of The Thirties
Albums:
Fear of Music (1979)
Remain in Light (1980)
Albums:
1968: Life
1969: Stand!
1971: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Albums:
To Bonnie from Delaney - Atco, 1970
Motel Shot - Atco, 1971
Country Life - Atco, 1972
D&B Together - Columbia, 1972
Albums:
Iron Age (1981), Atlantic
Albums:
Shabooh Shoobah (1982)
The Swing (1984)
Listen Like Thieves (1985)

    Best Regards,

    guy038

    P.S. :

    Viktoria, I’ve just realized that Scott already gave you a solution ! Anyway, I do agree with the last sentence of his reply, too !

    1
  • Viktoria Ontapado

    As usual, I really appreciate the answers, thank you so much to both of you for the solutions, explanations.
    The link to the other thread is invaluable as well to me, cheers for that.

    0
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