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    • TheRobsterT
      TheRobster
      last edited by

      Hi, I’m working on something that requires me to go through 5,255 files, and I want to filter out files that don’t contain specific content. Is there a plugin that allows this, or will I manually have to do it?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • TheRobsterT
        TheRobster
        last edited by

        By the way, it’s fine if I delete all files that don’t have the content that I want.

        Terry RT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Terry RT
          Terry R
          last edited by

          @TheRobster said in File Filtering based on content:

          I want to filter out files that don’t contain specific content.

          One way to do it would be to update the time stamp on the files that contain the content, then you’d use file explorer to order by date and (re)move/delete any with the old time stamp. This occurs by using the “Find in Files” function and then adding a character to those files and then removing it again so the time stamp gets updated.

          There is a post somewhere on this forum which explains it better, I’ll have a check to see if I can find it and then get back to you.

          Terry

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          • Terry RT
            Terry R @TheRobster
            last edited by

            @TheRobster said in File Filtering based on content:

            By the way, it’s fine if I delete all files that don’t have the content that I want.

            Some posts which might help a re:
            https://community.notepad-pls-plus.org/topic/17112/replace-in-files-based-on-a-condition?page=1
            https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/12948/2-search-strings-in-a-group-of-files-with-the-search-function
            https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/14870/regex-find-all-files-that-do-not-contain-some-words/12
            https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/13497/regex-can-i-delete-the-content-of-files-that-doesn-t-have-some-words
            https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/19134/find-files-that-don-t-contain

            A quick look suggests the last one might be the best as it also provides a method of dealing with the files you don’t want using the result of the initial find.

            Come back if you need any further assistance.

            Terry

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • Alan KilbornA
              Alan Kilborn
              last edited by

              It seems Terry’s original idea has merit.
              This is a bit onerous though:

              using the “Find in Files” function and then adding a character to those files and then removing it again so the time stamp gets updated.

              Instead, I might be inclined to do a Replace in Files operation on your specific content, example:

              Find: \Qyour_literal_content
              Repl: ${0}
              Search mode: Regular expression

              Then use Terry’s Explorer technique from above to delete files with timestamps older than “very recent”.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
              • TheRobsterT
                TheRobster
                last edited by

                Thanks, I got what I was looking for!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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