Combining Lines

[Katherine Curran]

Hello,

I am looking to condense a transcript that currently breaks up a speaker’s words into multiple lines:

John Doe: Hello.

John Doe: How are you today?

John Doe: I hope that you are well.

I would like to condense the lines into one resulting in the following:

John Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.

Is there a way to do this by removing the line breaks and the speaker’s name?

Thank you!

[PeterJones]

@Katherine-Curran said in Combining Lines:

Is there a way to do this by removing the line breaks and the speaker’s name?

Using regular expression search mode, yes

• FIND = (?-s)^(.*?: )(.*?)\R+(\1)
  • this says match up to the colon and space of the name, and store that as group 1; save the rest of the line as group2, match one or more newlines, and then see if the next non-blank line is the same as the previous speaker’s name
• REPLACE = $1$2\x20
  • the $1$2 are the values of the two matched groups
  • the \x20 is equivalent to a space, but easier to copy/paste from the forum
  • so replaces the old name/text/newlines/name with name/text/space, effectively doing what you wanted
• MODE = regular expression
• run REPLACE ALL until it finishes (shows 0 replacements)

(there are even more complicated regex that would allow with only one REPLACE ALL, but the amount of time it takes to debug those super-fancy regex far outweigh the time to hit REPLACE ALL 3-4 times)
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Useful References

• Please Read Before Posting
• Template for Search/Replace Questions
• FAQ: Where to find regular expressions (regex) documentation
• Notepad++ Online User Manual: Searching/Regex

[Alan Kilborn]

@Katherine-Curran

Find: (?-s)^(.+?):(.+)\R\1:(.+)
Replace: ${1}:${2}${3}
Wrap around: ticked
Search mode: Regular expression
Press Replace All repeatedly until the status bar of the Replace window indicates 0 replacements made

Example:

John Doe: Hello.
John Doe: How are you today?
John Doe: I hope that you are well.
Bob Doe: Hello.
Bob Doe: How are you today?
Bob Doe: I hope that you are well.
John Doe: Hello.
John Doe: How are you today?
John Doe: I hope that you are well.

After the first Replace All press:

John Doe: Hello. How are you today?
John Doe: I hope that you are well.
Bob Doe: Hello. How are you today?
Bob Doe: I hope that you are well.
John Doe: Hello. How are you today?
John Doe: I hope that you are well.

Status bar indicates 3 replacements made.

After the second Replace All press:

John Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.
Bob Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.
John Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.

Status bar indicates 3 replacements made.

After the third Replace All press:

John Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.
Bob Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.
John Doe: Hello. How are you today? I hope that you are well.

Status bar indicates 0 replacements made. (Data transform was actually complete with the previous press, but that can only be determined via visual inspection).