Remove " quotes from tsv file

Christopher Phillips

I have a folder with hundred of tsv files.
The all follow the structure

“sourcetext”(tab)“targettext”
“moresourcetext”(tab)“moretargettext”
“more”“source”“text”(tab)“more”“target”“text”

I am trying to find a way to end up with:

sourcetext(tab)targettext
moresourcetext(tab)moretargettext
more"source"text(tab)more"target"text

Any ideas how I can achieve this on all files?

guy038

Hello, christopher-phillips,

Because of Markdown syntax of this forum, some regular double-quotes (" ), in your text, may have been changed as “ and ”. So, could you rewrite your input and output text, using the button, below, to see it as code text :

Thanks for trying

See you later,

Best Regards,

guy038

Christopher Phillips

"sourcetext"(tab)"targettext"
"moresourcetext"(tab)"moretargettext"
"more""source""text"(tab)"more""target""text"

I am trying to find a way to end up with:

sourcetext(tab)targettext
moresourcetext(tab)moretargettext
more"source"text(tab)more"target"text

guy038

Hi, christopher-phillips,

Thanks ! So, here is the road map, with a regex S/R :

Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )
SEARCH (^|(?<=\t))"|"((?=\t)|$)|"(?=")
REPLACE Leave EMPTY
Tick the Wrap around option, if necessary
Select the Regular expression search mode
Click, exclusively, on the Replace All button

Notes :

This search regex contains 3 alternatives, separated with the alternation symbol | :
- The first part (^|(?<=\t))" searches for a double quote, only if at beginning of line or preceded with a tabulation char ( \t )
- The second part "((?=\t)|$) searches for a double quote, only if followed with a tabulation char or an end of line
- The last part "(?=") searches for a double quote, only if followed with a second double-quote
As the replacement zone is Empty, the double-quote selected, whatever the alternative, is simply deleted

Best Regards,

guy038