Check which numbers are not included

Miko Merz

Hello all together,

I need to go through a list and check which numbers are not included.

F.e.:
Input:
1
3
4
5

The number 2 is missing so the output should be 2

As the list I have has around 9k missing numbers this would take to much time to do it manually.

Is there a plugin I can use to make this easier?

Thanks and greetings from Germany!

Scott Sumner

@Miko-Merz

Notepad++ isn’t going to be able to directly help you with that. You need a programming language. Of course you can use one of Notepad++'s scripting languages to do it on the contents of the current editor buffer, or a standalone language using your disk file as input works well, too. Good luck.

guy038

Hello @miko-merz and All,

I think that I found out a way to do it…, from within Notepad++, but, first, I would like some details on your real text :

From the list, below :

Do you expect the following results ?

3
8
11

Or, may be, you just need a complete list of consecutive numbers, between two boundaries n1 and n2 ?

So, a short extract of, both, your original text and the final text expected, would be welcome !

See you later,

Best Regards,

guy038

Scott Sumner

I’m not exactly sure where @guy038 is heading, but his reply made me rethink my original nay-saying answer.

Here’s something you might try:

Create a new editor tab window in Notepad++
Use the Edit (menu) -> Column Editor… -> Number to Insert feature to create a column of numbers that completely covers your range of interest into the new editor tab
Add a line of 8 dashes at the bottom of this complete number list: --------
Copy your real dataset (the one with the missing numbers) into the new tab BELOW the line of dashes
Run the following redmarking/bookmarking operation:

Invoke Mark dialog (Search (menu) -> Mark…) <–Suggestion: Tie ctrl+m to this action
Find what zone: (?s)^(\d+)$(?=.*?-{8}.*?^\1$)
Mark line checkbox: ticked
Purge for each search checkbox: ticked (not strictly necessary but good if you are experimenting…)
Wrap around checkbox: ticked
Search mode selection: Regular expression
Action: Press Find All button

At this point you should see in the complete list – from the top of the file to the line of dashes – the numbers that are missing from your real dataset remain un-redmarked and on lines that are not bookmarked, and you can do with them what you will from that point…

So, taking @guy038’s list and running the above on it, I obtained the following:

Imgur

[Ignore the orange and green blobs in the margin, and your bookmarking symbol will be a blue circle instead of my cool-looking real bookmark symbol.]

If this is just a one-time or an occasional need, this technique could satisfy it.

Terry R

@Scott-Sumner, @guy038 etc.

When I saw the OP I thought it should be a fairly simple regex, once the file was configured with a FULL number list above, a delimiter and the area below to compare too, but then this:

@Miko-Merz said:

As the list I have has around 9k missing numbers this would take to much time to do it manually.

got me concerned. We are potentially talking about creating a number sequence list running possibly into the millions. I looked online and one website will make lists for free, however their list can only number 10000 consecutive numbers. With 9000 numbers possibly missing I couldn’t see an easy way to generate the full list to start with. It seemed like cracking a walnut with a 10lb sledgehammer.

I think my regex was almost verbatim to Scott’s one. I guess we’ll have to see if Guy can pull another white rabbit out of the hat.

Would NOT a python script or similar do it very easily? It would only need start and end numbers, add 1 each time and test, print the answer if not found! I guess I need to broaden my horizons.

Terry

Scott Sumner

@Terry-R

I guess I missed the “9k” thing in the OP, but in the best case this could mean only 18000 numbers. :-)

It is always kind of iffy to offer up a regex solution when you don’t know if the user is talking about a “big data” situation. We’ve seen problems with this before here on the Community and I believe this kind of thing can happen when the data gets “too big”.

A script could do it, as I originally said, but I’m not writing one. I typically only do that when it can be of some use to me as well…sorry for my selfish attitude. :-) I guess I played around with the regex not because it would be useful to me, but just to see if it could be done.

PeterJones

Off Topic Answer:

install Strawberry Perl
Save the file below as npp16392.pl
perl npp16392.pl FILENAME
- or give it no filename, and paste the data to STDIN: perl npp16392.pl
- or also give it output redirection: perl npp16392.pl INFILE > OUTFILE
use warnings;
use strict;

my $max = 0;
my %n;
while(<>) {
chomp;
$max = $_ if $_ > $max;
$n{$}++;
}
my @missing = grep { !exists $n{$} } 1 … $max;
print join “\n”, @missing;

Scott Sumner

@PeterJones

Curious where the 16392 came from? :-)

guy038

Hi, @miko-merz @scott-sumner, @peterjones and All,

Bngo, Scott ;-)) Indeed, I was thinking to something very similar !

So, Nico, let’s suppose that your numbers are all, in the range [300....700]

Open a new tab, in N++ ( Ctrl + N )
Hit the Enter key to create a first line-break
Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
- SEARCH \R
- REPLACE \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- Tick the Wrap around option
- Select the Regular expression search mode
- Click 3 times on the Replace All button => You should get 1000 ( = 10^3 ) pure blank lines
- Hit the Esc key to close the Replace dialog
Now, open the Column editor ( Alt + C )
- Select the option Number to Insert
- Type in 300 as the Initial number
- Type in 1 , in the Increase by field
- Leave the options Repeat and Leading zeros empty
- The format is decimal, by default
- Click on the OK button
Then, remove all blank characters at end of lines ( Edit > Blank Operations > Trim Trailing Space )
Open the Go To dialog
- Type in 400 ( 700-300 )
- Hit the Enter key=> Cursor is on line 699 !
Place your cursor at beginning of line 701
Select all lines till the end of file ( Ctrl + Shift + End ) and delete them

At this point, we have a 401-lines file, numbered from 300 to 700

Now, add a separation line of, at least, 3 dashes ---
Finally, and it’s the main point, UNDER the dashes line, add your OWN list of numbers ( where some numbers are absent ! )
Open, again, the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
- SEARCH (?s)(^\d+\R)(?=.*---.*^\1)|---.*
- REPLACE Leave EMPTY
- Tick the Wrap around option
- Select the Regular expression search mode
- Click, ONCE, on the Replace All button

=> You should obtain, only, the short list of integers, between 300 and 700, which are absent from your original list ;-))

Remark : In order to test my regex, I, simply, copy the consecutive list of numbers, under the --- and deleted some numbers ( for example : 302 , 361 , 426 , 491 , 653 )

Cheers,

guy038

PeterJones

@Scott-Sumner,

That’s easy: from the URL.

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16392/check-which-numbers-are-not-included/9
                                              ^^^^^