Add line break in paste after multi-editing

[Spiros Doikas]

Currently, if one selects multiple strings and then pastes, they are pasted in one long string. It would be more practical if each item was separated by a line break or even better if one could have a setting for their preferred delimiter.

[PeterJones]

@spiros-doikas

see “FAQ: Feature Request”

[Spiros Doikas]

https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/11781

[Alan Kilborn]

@spiros-doikas said in Add line break in paste after multi-editing:

if one selects multiple strings and then pastes, they are pasted in one long string

Don’t you really mean?:

“if one selects multiple strings and then copies, then pastes that data somewhere else, they are pasted as one long string”

Such behavior is arguably best left to scripting. Here’s a PythonScript that I call MultiSelectCopyAddDelimiters.py that implements the desired functionality:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

class MSCAD(object):

    def __init__(self):
        preferred_delimiter = '\r\n'
        if editor.getSelections() == 1 or editor.selectionIsRectangle(): return  # not our purview
        sel_text_list = []
        for n in range(editor.getSelections()):
            (s, e) = (editor.getSelectionNStart(n), editor.getSelectionNEnd(n))
            t = editor.getTextRange(s, e)
            sel_text_list.append(t)
        editor.copyText(preferred_delimiter.join(sel_text_list) + '\r\n')

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if __name__ == '__main__': MSCAD()

[Spiros Doikas]

Hi thanks!

Well, in my opinion this is very basic functionality making paste after multi-copy usable in common scenarios (compare similar functionality in MS Word for example).

Not sure how to run the script. I tried multi copy first, then running the script via Plugins > Python Script > the actual script but I had no output.

[Alan Kilborn]

@spiros-doikas said in Add line break in paste after multi-editing:

Not sure how to run the script. I tried multi copy first, then running the script via Plugins > Python Script > the actual script but I had no output.

It sounds like you figured out what you needed to do (mostly), but I should have directed you HERE anyway (sorry).

To use the script you need to have multiple-selections active first, then run the script, then do a paste somewhere (I thought this was obvious?).

[Spiros Doikas]

To use the script you need to have multiple-selections active first, then run the script, then do a paste somewhere (I thought this was obvious?).

This is what I did:

1. multiple-selections active
2. Make multi-selections and press Ctrl+C
3. run the script
4. do a paste somewhere

[Alan Kilborn]

@spiros-doikas

I’m really confused but maybe you are one of those confusing persons we get here occasionally. :-) I’m not even sure from your most-recent posting if a) you can’t get it to work or b) you got it to work and you are just sharing what you did as part of a victory lap. I’ll assume a)…

If you have “multiple selections active” in step 1 why do you need to “make multi-selections” in step 2?

There is no need to press Ctrl+c in your step 2; the script does the copy.

Let me show how it should go:

1. Make multiple selections:
   

2. Run the script (because you want to copy, with delimiters between the individual items, the currently multi-selected text).

3. Paste somewhere to obtain:
   

Is this not clear?
Anyone? Anyone?

[Spiros Doikas]

@alan-kilborn Thank you! I did try the way you described it. But it would not paste the multi-selection items (instead it pastes what was previously in the clipboard).
Please see below

https://ibb.co/gSRGXpH

[Alan Kilborn]

@spiros-doikas

Well, I guess at this point we have to wait for someone else to try it, and weigh in on how it went for them. :-(

[Spiros Doikas]

@alan-kilborn Your code may be just fine, and thank you again for that, it could be anything as we have different environments… I tested of course other scripts from the same folder and they do produce results.

[PeterJones]

@alan-kilborn said in Add line break in paste after multi-editing:

wait for someone else to try it, and weigh in on how it went for them

I installed the script, selected old text and verified it was in the clipboard by pasting. Then I selected two or three disjoint sections in multi-select mode, ran the script, and then pasted, and it pasted each section of the new multi-section data with a newline between, so worked exactly as I believe it was described.

@Spiros-Doikas , you should look at Plugins > Python Script > Show Console after running the script, and see if it is giving you an error message.