For this purpose, you should study the Columns++ documentation of @coises, below :

https://coises.github.io/ColumnsPlusPlus/help.htm#formulas

or with the MultiReplace plugin of @thomas-knoefel, from these two links below :

https://github.com/daddel80/notepadpp-multireplace/blob/main/FORMULA-SUPPORT.md#lua-reference

https://github.com/daddel80/notepadpp-multireplace/blob/main/FORMULA-SUPPORT.md#exprtk-reference

As you can see, it should be possible with some special regexes to achieve your goal !

Best Regards,

guy038

@Neculai-I.-Fantanaru said:

I need a regex, not column editor, not python.

If you have multiple files, it is understandable to exclude column editor, as that’s not practical. But you are choosing to exclude PythonScript: there is a difference. You have access to the plugin, and you know how to use it. So you do not need a regex, you want a regex, which are two different things.

Notepad++'s built-in regex doesn’t do auto-increment, and your previous topic with the edge cases just pointed that out to you (you ended up doing a weird duplicate and edge-case to get a pseudo-‘count’). For this task, you would need to use a plugin – either PythonScript (which you are artificially rejecting), or one of the fancier search plugins that have enabled custom “numbering” syntax – like MultiReplace or Columns++ (or presumably Search++ – I assume @Coises included all the math extras when he ported the searching from Columns++ to Search++)

The Math FAQ already explains how to do counting-like actions in PythonScript and in MultiReplace and in Columns++ (and I assume the Search++ syntax would be the same). There is no reason for us to re-iterate what’s already in the FAQ.

@Neculai-I.-Fantanaru said:

add number 1-16, before each line:

1-bebe-55
2-bebe-55
3-bebe-55

Notepad++'s existing “Column Editor” can do this already.
I believe the default keycombo is Alt+c (or you can find it on the Edit menu).