Replace specific line #s within multiple programs

[Scott Raskin]

So I have about 1000 CNC programs that I am trying to edit for a new machine. Each one of them look like this (the #s to the left are not part of the program, but the line # in notepad++, each program actually starts with the N)

1  O0032 
2  N00/     .44 R1;
3  N01/  G10 P010000 X-0.   Z-1.8495

Now, The #s are not the same in every program, however these lines are ALWAYS on lines 1, 2, and 3 of the program (subsequently 1, 2, and 3 in notepad++)

I want to be able to open all of the files in my folder (I know how to do that) and replace those 3 lines with the same line of programming code for every programs

1  O0024  ;
2  N001;
3  N004;
4  n005;
5  n007 g94 g53 g56 t0000 ;
6  g92 x0.602  z2.2 ;
7  n011 g59 ;

Now, if the first section I wrote were the same in every program, it would be a simple extended search and replace function as Ive done many times. However, with the code not being the same in all of the programs, my next thought was "can I just tell it to replace anything in lines 1 through 3, with what I wrote which would now be lines 1 through 7?)

Any help would be greatly Appreciated!

I am lost. I honestly have no idea where to start

[PeterJones]

@Scott-Raskin ,

Use Regular Expression mode instead of Extended mode.

One way to FIND the first three lines is \A(^.*?$\R){3}

You implied you already knew how to fill out the REPLACE section for an “extended” replacement; since you aren’t using any of the regex fancy features for the REPLACE, you should be able to use the same expression.

(edit: fixed the expression a couple minutes after I posted it)
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Useful References

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

[Alan Kilborn]

@Scott-Raskin

This should find the first 3 lines of a file for you, when doing a Find in Files or Replace in Files:

Find: \A(?-s).*\R.*\R.*\R
Search mode: Regular expression

[Scott Raskin]

@Scott-Raskin said in Replace specific line #s within multiple programs:

Thank you for your prompt reply. So if in the extended replace, I told it to replace \A(^.*?$\R){3} with the following, it would do so?

1 O0024 ;
2 N001;
3 N004;
4 n005;
5 n007 g94 g53 g56 t0000 ;
6 g92 x0.602 z2.2 ;
7 n011 g59 ;

[Scott Raskin]

@Scott-Raskin
I actually just tried simply replacing \A(^.*?$\R){3} with “this is a test” and it said it couldnt find the expression?

[Alan Kilborn]

[Scott Raskin]

@Alan-Kilborn ok, that looks like it finds it exactly as I wanted (I actually realized the program has the first 4 lines blank, so I added a few more .*\R expressions for it to cover the first 7 lines needed to be replaced), however I am blanking on how to replace that with all of that text below (starting from the 4th line as it is in the current file)

O0024 ;
N001;
N004;
n005;
n007 g94 g53 g56 t0000 ;
g92 x0.602 z2.2 ;
n011 g59 ;

Thank you so much for your help

[Alan Kilborn]

@Scott-Raskin said in Replace specific line #s within multiple programs:

how to replace that with all of that text below

Arguably the easiest way is to do this:

• select your desired replacement text:
  

• press Ctrl+Shift+f to bring up Find in Files window; your desired replacement data will be in the Find what box (not in Replace with where you want it):
  

• press the “up/down arrow” – aka “swap” – button to move your data from Find what to Replace with:
  

• put your search expression into Find what, and continue on with hopefully obvious steps to accomplish your replacement operation