Thanks a lot for help. What website you use to get explanation of the command ?

You could look in this forum’s FAQ section and find the FAQ entry about Where to find regular expression documentation. It links to the official Notepad++ regular expression documentation, as well as several external sites which are useful for learning about or experimenting with or describing the specifics of regular expressions.

OK. So the new S/R is, simply :

• SEARCH (?si)find\x20+(first\x20(?:phila|oshk).+?)no-error\x20*\.\x20*$

• REPLACE For\x20\1:\x20END.

Notes :

• I’ve just changed the part (first.+?), which represents the group 1, by the syntax (first\x20(?:phila|oshk).+?)

• As you can see, *after the string first, whatever its case, I inserted the regex \x20(?:phila|oshk) containing, after the space char, a (?:••••••••) structure, known as a non-capturing group.

• Inside this non-capturing group, it looks, either, for the string phila OR the string oshk, due to the alternation symbol |

• Note that you may extend this list of alternatives, for instance, with the regex (?:phila|oshk|third_case|fourth_case|fifth_case...)

Cheers,

guy038

For\x20\1:\x20END.

Thanks. This is great. Works fine.
I would like to change this to a choice values.

Find first phila.employee no-lock no-error.
Find first oshk.employee no-lock no-error.
Find first Germany.employee no-lock no-error.

The search should find phila and oshk but ignore anything which is not Phila or Oshk.
it should find first 2 lines and ignore 3rd line.

Sorry for my late reply :-((

So, for instance given this INPUT text :

  find         first ki.timeatt no-LOCK WHERE
  ki.TimeAtt.emp-num = ki.pcn.emp-num AND
  ki.TimeAtt.typecode = ki.pcn.typecode AND
  ki.TimeAtt.cdate = LvPCNDate NO-ERROR   .


find first
ki.timeatt no-LOCK
WHERE
ki.TimeAtt.emp-num = ki.pcn.emp-num AND
ki.TimeAtt.typecode = ki.pcn.typecode AND
ki.TimeAtt.cdate = LvPCNDate
NO-ERROR. 

The regex S/R, below :

• SEARCH (?si)find\x20+(first.+?)no-error\x20*\.\x20*$

• REPLACE For\x20\1:\x20END.

should give the expected OUTPUT text :

  For first ki.timeatt no-LOCK WHERE
  ki.TimeAtt.emp-num = ki.pcn.emp-num AND
  ki.TimeAtt.typecode = ki.pcn.typecode AND
  ki.TimeAtt.cdate = LvPCNDate : END.


For first
ki.timeatt no-LOCK
WHERE
ki.TimeAtt.emp-num = ki.pcn.emp-num AND
ki.TimeAtt.typecode = ki.pcn.typecode AND
ki.TimeAtt.cdate = LvPCNDate
: END.

As you can see, I changed and simplified the global logic of the S/R :

• The words/string find, first and no-error are searched whatever their case, due to the initial syntax (?i). So, for instance, the words Find, fIRsT and no-ERRORS will be matched !

• The \x20+ syntax, between the two words find and first, represents any non-null range of space characters

• The (first.+?) searches the smallest range of chars, beginning from word first, whatever its case, till the next string no-error, excluded and is stored as group1, due to the parentheses

• Then, the part no-error\x20* looks for the string no-error, whatever its case, followed with an optional range of space characters

• and the final part \.\x20$* searches for a literal dot char followed by optional space characters again, ending the current line

• In replacement :

  • The part For\x20 replaces the word find followed with space char(s) by the word For, followed with a single space char

  • Then, the group 1 is rewritten ( \1 )

  • Finally, the part :\x20END. replaces the string no-error with optional space chars and a final . char by the string : END. with this exact case

Cheers

guy038

  find first ki.timeatt no-LOCK WHERE
  ki.TimeAtt.emp-num = ki.pcn.emp-num AND
  ki.TimeAtt.typecode = ki.pcn.typecode AND
  ki.TimeAtt.cdate = LvPCNDate NO-ERROR   .

I want to ignore spaces or black new line and eliminate NO-ERROR .

Very easy with regexes !

• Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )

  • SEARCH (?s-i)find (?=first)(.+?)(?:no-error)?(?=\.$)

  • REPLACE For \1: END

  • Tick, preferably, the Wrap around option

  • Select the Regular Expression search mode

  • Click on the Replace All button

Voila !

Notes :

• First, the part (?s-i) ensures that :

  • The dot regex char ( . ) matches any character, even EOL ones ( \r and \n ), due to the (?s) syntax

  • The search is processed in a sensitive way ( non-insensitive way ), due the the (?-i) syntax

• Then, the part find (?=first) searches for the find string, with this exact case, followed with a space char

• But, ONLY IF it is followed with the first string, with this exact case, due to the look-ahead structure (?=first)

• Then the middle part (.+?) matches the smallest non-null multi-lines range of any character, from after the string find and the space char, stored as group 1, due to parentheses, till…

• … An optional string no-error, with this exact case, stored in a non-capturing group and ONLY IF it is followed with an literal period char, ending the current line, due to the final syntax (?:no-error)?(?=\.$)

• In replacement, we rewrite :

  • First the string For, followed with a space char

  • Then, the contents of group 1 ( \1 )

  • Finally, the literal string : END, with this exact case !

Best Regards

guy038