Replace specific word between words in string

Alan Kilborn

In the Replace window, put , TRUE in the Find what box.
In the Replace with box, make sure this box is empty.
Press the Replace All button.
Done.

Program111

I have the word TRUE in other fields that does not start like this line. I need regular expression.

guy038

Hello, @program111, and All,

The @alan-kilborn’s solution is valid but, just in case you’ve got some other zones , True in your file, here is a safer solution :

Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + F )
SEARCH (?-si)define\(".+?\K,\x20TRUE(?=\);)
REPLACE Leave EMPTY
Tick the Wrap around option
Select the Regular expression search mode
Click on the Replace All button, exclusively

Notes :

Globally this regex searches, first, for the literal zone define(", with this exact case. followed by the shortest non-null range of standard chars. till the string ,\x20TRUE, with that exact case, but ONLY IF followed with the string );
The (?-is) in-line modifiers forces a non-insensitive search and a non-single line text, meaning that text is split in individual lines and that the regex meta-character . matches a single standard character only ( and not line-breaks )
The parentheses have a special regex meaning and must be escaped to be considered as literals
The \K syntax causes the regex engine to only retain the part , TRUE, which is deleted as the replacement zone is empty

Best Regards,

guy038

PeterJones

For future readers who (like me) were lost/confused because the first post was deleted, the OP apparently posted the same (or similar) question in this linked post.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones said in Replace specific word between words in string:

for future readers who (like me) were lost/confused because the first post was deleted, the OP apparently posted the same (or similar) question in this linked post.

The OP was probably shocked by their original question once they saw my “solution”…that they had to abandon the thread entirely!! :-)

Program111

@Alan-Kilborn no I did not. I was shocked that someone would think other person to be so stupid to post simple FIND and REPLACE question. I try to edit the question and it did not allow. so I posted new one and clarified it.
@guy038 I still did not get your solution. just tell me one line reply and solution pleae.

PeterJones

@Program111,

@guy038 I still did not get your solution. just tell me one line reply and solution pleae.

By “did not get”, do you mean you did not receive (“get”) the solution that Guy has posted in this thread, or that you did not understand (“get”) the solution. In the first 6 bullet points (before the Notes), Guy told you the exact steps you need to take to run this search-and-replace. The Notes were just Guy’s way of helping you learn what those 6 steps do.

Did you try those 6 steps? If not, why not? If so, did it work for you? If it didn’t work, did you follow his instructions to use Replace All exclusively (not hit the Replace button) – because with \K in the regular expression, you must use Replace All to work. If it’s not working for you, what results did it give you, compared to what results were you expecting?

Please follow the advice below for how to format your post, present example text, etc.

----

Do you want regex search/replace help? Then please be patient and polite, show some effort, and be willing to learn; answer questions and requests for clarification that are made of you. All example text should be marked as plain text using the </> toolbar button or manual Markdown syntax. Screenshots can be pasted from the clipboard to your post using Ctrl+V to show graphical items, but any text should be included as literal text in your post so we can easily copy/paste your data. Show the data you have and the text you want to get from that data; include examples of things that should match and be transformed, and things that don’t match and should be left alone; show edge cases and make sure you examples are as varied as your real data. Show the regex you already tried, and why you thought it should work; tell us what’s wrong with what you do get… Read the official NPP Searching / Regex docs and the forum’s Regular Expression FAQ. If you follow these guidelines, you’re much more likely to get helpful replies that solve your problem in the shortest number of tries.

Program111

@guy038 said in Replace specific word between words in string:

Wrap around option

where is step 6? the “Replace All”? NO I did not .
I don’t know what to put int he “replace” field to remove the “, TRUE);”

Alan Kilborn

@Program111 said in Replace specific word between words in string:

where is step 6? the “Replace All”?

I don’t know what to put int he “replace” field

Perhaps “Leave EMPTY” is bad terminology, if it wasn’t empty in the first place. Instead try:

put caret in Replace with box
press Ctrl+a (to select all)
press Delete

guy038

Hi, @program111, and All,

Oh, my bad ! I was mistaken in my previous post ! I wrote :

Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + F )

I should have written :

Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )

Sorry,

BR

guy038

PeterJones

@Program111 ,

Maybe a picture will help:

If you start with this data:

define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 50, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 51, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 52, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 53, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 54, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 55, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 56, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 57, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 58, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 59, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 60, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 61, TRUE);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 62, TRUE);

After you’ve hit Replace All, you will end up with:

define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 50);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 51);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 52);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 53);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 54);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 55);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 56);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 57);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 58);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 59);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 60);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 61);
define("EW_UNFORMAT_YEAR", 62);

If you ignore this advice, and just hit Replace, it won’t work.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

I suppose it is easy enough to remove the Replace All requirement, with this solution:

Open the Replace dialog by pressing Ctrl+h and then set up the following search parameters:
Find what box: (?-si)(define\(".+?),\x20TRUE(?=\);)
Replace with box: \1);
Search mode radiobutton: Regular expression
Wrap around checkbox: ticked
In selection checkbox: unticked
Option checkboxes not mentioned are typically not important to the operation, but should in general be unticked.
Then press the Replace button, one or many times.

I typically don’t like to provide \K in solutions posted here, due to the Replace All -being-needed limitation. Of course, sometimes \K is absolutely required for a successful solution, but in this case using it only buys you the need to not capture group anything and the ability to leave the Replace with field empty (which in itself can be confusing: it looks empty but maybe it has some spaces in it).

guy038

Hello, @program111, @peterjones, @alan-kilborn and All,

@alan-kilborn :

Thanks for proposing the right solution ! I confess that I’m rather annoying to always look for the minimum S/R syntax :-(

I realize, finally, that the benefit of such a practice is really small ! Indeed, by removing the \K syntax and adding the ( ), to create the group that contains everything that matched before \K, the search string contains the same number of characters, anyway ! Only the replacement field contains a few elements, instead of an empty field !

But the fact that the Replace button is fully functional is surely less confusing for some OP, who are not aware of some specificities of our regex engine :-))

Best Regards,

guy038

Alan Kilborn

@guy038

Do we have any further insight as to why \K doesn’t work with normal Replace?
I thought maybe since some time has gone by since it was last discussed…

guy038

Hi, @alan-kilborn,

I’ve just tested with the old enhanced regex engine of François-R Boyer + Notepad++ v6.9 and, unfortunately, the behaviour is strictly identical : any hit on the Replace button does not produce anything :-((

But it’s definitively a bug !

Cheers,

guy038

Program111

@Alan-Kilborn said in Replace specific word between words in string:

\1);

@Alan-Kilborn @PeterJones @guy038 thank you for your help. it worked. I appreciate it.