How to replace only text in a selected column
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
When I select some text in a column, replace/in selection will become grey.
How can I replace text only within a column of selected text in Notepad++?
notepad++ find-and-replace
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
When I select some text in a column, replace/in selection will become grey.
How can I replace text only within a column of selected text in Notepad++?
notepad++ find-and-replace
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
I can only replace column selected text by first column select and cut, then paste cut text to new lines, then select thos text and replace, then cut and paste to the original place. It's not easy.
– Fisher
Mar 20 '15 at 18:33
How are your columns delimited? Tabs?
– Excellll
Mar 26 '15 at 20:36
Columns are selected by ctrl+alt+left-click.
– Fisher
Mar 27 '15 at 10:41
1
Hi, that's not what I asked. In your file, what character(s) are in between columns? Is it a tab? Several spaces? This is important because the best workaround I see is to use regular expressions to search and replace in a way that doesn't require you to select down a column.
– Excellll
Mar 27 '15 at 14:31
Yes, I know. But it doesn't matter. Suppose it's just just a big chunk of random text, it doesn't have to be any "column" at all. :)
– Fisher
Mar 28 '15 at 4:12
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
When I select some text in a column, replace/in selection will become grey.
How can I replace text only within a column of selected text in Notepad++?
notepad++ find-and-replace
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
When I select some text in a column, replace/in selection will become grey.
How can I replace text only within a column of selected text in Notepad++?
notepad++ find-and-replace
notepad++ find-and-replace
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
edited Mar 26 '15 at 20:35
Excellll
11k74162
11k74162
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
asked Mar 20 '15 at 18:24
Fisher
154229
154229
I can only replace column selected text by first column select and cut, then paste cut text to new lines, then select thos text and replace, then cut and paste to the original place. It's not easy.
– Fisher
Mar 20 '15 at 18:33
How are your columns delimited? Tabs?
– Excellll
Mar 26 '15 at 20:36
Columns are selected by ctrl+alt+left-click.
– Fisher
Mar 27 '15 at 10:41
1
Hi, that's not what I asked. In your file, what character(s) are in between columns? Is it a tab? Several spaces? This is important because the best workaround I see is to use regular expressions to search and replace in a way that doesn't require you to select down a column.
– Excellll
Mar 27 '15 at 14:31
Yes, I know. But it doesn't matter. Suppose it's just just a big chunk of random text, it doesn't have to be any "column" at all. :)
– Fisher
Mar 28 '15 at 4:12
add a comment |
I can only replace column selected text by first column select and cut, then paste cut text to new lines, then select thos text and replace, then cut and paste to the original place. It's not easy.
– Fisher
Mar 20 '15 at 18:33
How are your columns delimited? Tabs?
– Excellll
Mar 26 '15 at 20:36
Columns are selected by ctrl+alt+left-click.
– Fisher
Mar 27 '15 at 10:41
1
Hi, that's not what I asked. In your file, what character(s) are in between columns? Is it a tab? Several spaces? This is important because the best workaround I see is to use regular expressions to search and replace in a way that doesn't require you to select down a column.
– Excellll
Mar 27 '15 at 14:31
Yes, I know. But it doesn't matter. Suppose it's just just a big chunk of random text, it doesn't have to be any "column" at all. :)
– Fisher
Mar 28 '15 at 4:12
I can only replace column selected text by first column select and cut, then paste cut text to new lines, then select thos text and replace, then cut and paste to the original place. It's not easy.
– Fisher
Mar 20 '15 at 18:33
I can only replace column selected text by first column select and cut, then paste cut text to new lines, then select thos text and replace, then cut and paste to the original place. It's not easy.
– Fisher
Mar 20 '15 at 18:33
How are your columns delimited? Tabs?
– Excellll
Mar 26 '15 at 20:36
How are your columns delimited? Tabs?
– Excellll
Mar 26 '15 at 20:36
Columns are selected by ctrl+alt+left-click.
– Fisher
Mar 27 '15 at 10:41
Columns are selected by ctrl+alt+left-click.
– Fisher
Mar 27 '15 at 10:41
1
1
Hi, that's not what I asked. In your file, what character(s) are in between columns? Is it a tab? Several spaces? This is important because the best workaround I see is to use regular expressions to search and replace in a way that doesn't require you to select down a column.
– Excellll
Mar 27 '15 at 14:31
Hi, that's not what I asked. In your file, what character(s) are in between columns? Is it a tab? Several spaces? This is important because the best workaround I see is to use regular expressions to search and replace in a way that doesn't require you to select down a column.
– Excellll
Mar 27 '15 at 14:31
Yes, I know. But it doesn't matter. Suppose it's just just a big chunk of random text, it doesn't have to be any "column" at all. :)
– Fisher
Mar 28 '15 at 4:12
Yes, I know. But it doesn't matter. Suppose it's just just a big chunk of random text, it doesn't have to be any "column" at all. :)
– Fisher
Mar 28 '15 at 4:12
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
This is an annoying limitation of notepad++, but there are a couple of ways to solve this problem. First, if you know the column limitations that you want to replace any occurrences of the word "dog" with "cat" within columns 4 and 10, then do this:
RE search string: ^(.{3})(.{0,3})dog(.{0,3})(.*)$
RE replacement string: 12cat34
To break this down:
^ - Must match from the beginning of the line
(.{3}) - match any three characters from the line
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
dog - match "dog"
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
(.*) - match everything else
$ - up to the end of the line
Caveats to this approach
First, make sure you have . matches n unchecked, this would mess it up.
Mixing tabs and spaces won't work, since regular expressions see tabs as just single characters.
Another solution that will work with mixed tabs and spaces
Column select the last column you want to search in. Then type a character that isn't otherwise in the file, for example '|' or '!'.
Column select the first column you want to search in. Do the same thing as before (it can be the same character or a different one).
Now, search for your text within those boundaries.
RE search string: |(.*)dog(.*)|
RE replacement string: |1cat2|
You want to leave your marker characters since you will probably not match every line in your file and you'll want to remove all of them in a second step (either with column select and delete, or with another search/replace).
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
add a comment |
up vote
-2
down vote
I use the Find/Replace dialog that is presented when you enter Ctrl-r. In the Find/Replace dialog there is a field to enter column numbers. This allows you limit the the Find/Replace to these columns in the file. Normal and regular expression Find/Replace are supported. I could not find how to do this Find/Replace via the Ctrl-h dialog.
Find/Replace dialog (Ctrl-r)
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
This is an annoying limitation of notepad++, but there are a couple of ways to solve this problem. First, if you know the column limitations that you want to replace any occurrences of the word "dog" with "cat" within columns 4 and 10, then do this:
RE search string: ^(.{3})(.{0,3})dog(.{0,3})(.*)$
RE replacement string: 12cat34
To break this down:
^ - Must match from the beginning of the line
(.{3}) - match any three characters from the line
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
dog - match "dog"
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
(.*) - match everything else
$ - up to the end of the line
Caveats to this approach
First, make sure you have . matches n unchecked, this would mess it up.
Mixing tabs and spaces won't work, since regular expressions see tabs as just single characters.
Another solution that will work with mixed tabs and spaces
Column select the last column you want to search in. Then type a character that isn't otherwise in the file, for example '|' or '!'.
Column select the first column you want to search in. Do the same thing as before (it can be the same character or a different one).
Now, search for your text within those boundaries.
RE search string: |(.*)dog(.*)|
RE replacement string: |1cat2|
You want to leave your marker characters since you will probably not match every line in your file and you'll want to remove all of them in a second step (either with column select and delete, or with another search/replace).
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
This is an annoying limitation of notepad++, but there are a couple of ways to solve this problem. First, if you know the column limitations that you want to replace any occurrences of the word "dog" with "cat" within columns 4 and 10, then do this:
RE search string: ^(.{3})(.{0,3})dog(.{0,3})(.*)$
RE replacement string: 12cat34
To break this down:
^ - Must match from the beginning of the line
(.{3}) - match any three characters from the line
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
dog - match "dog"
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
(.*) - match everything else
$ - up to the end of the line
Caveats to this approach
First, make sure you have . matches n unchecked, this would mess it up.
Mixing tabs and spaces won't work, since regular expressions see tabs as just single characters.
Another solution that will work with mixed tabs and spaces
Column select the last column you want to search in. Then type a character that isn't otherwise in the file, for example '|' or '!'.
Column select the first column you want to search in. Do the same thing as before (it can be the same character or a different one).
Now, search for your text within those boundaries.
RE search string: |(.*)dog(.*)|
RE replacement string: |1cat2|
You want to leave your marker characters since you will probably not match every line in your file and you'll want to remove all of them in a second step (either with column select and delete, or with another search/replace).
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
This is an annoying limitation of notepad++, but there are a couple of ways to solve this problem. First, if you know the column limitations that you want to replace any occurrences of the word "dog" with "cat" within columns 4 and 10, then do this:
RE search string: ^(.{3})(.{0,3})dog(.{0,3})(.*)$
RE replacement string: 12cat34
To break this down:
^ - Must match from the beginning of the line
(.{3}) - match any three characters from the line
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
dog - match "dog"
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
(.*) - match everything else
$ - up to the end of the line
Caveats to this approach
First, make sure you have . matches n unchecked, this would mess it up.
Mixing tabs and spaces won't work, since regular expressions see tabs as just single characters.
Another solution that will work with mixed tabs and spaces
Column select the last column you want to search in. Then type a character that isn't otherwise in the file, for example '|' or '!'.
Column select the first column you want to search in. Do the same thing as before (it can be the same character or a different one).
Now, search for your text within those boundaries.
RE search string: |(.*)dog(.*)|
RE replacement string: |1cat2|
You want to leave your marker characters since you will probably not match every line in your file and you'll want to remove all of them in a second step (either with column select and delete, or with another search/replace).
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
This is an annoying limitation of notepad++, but there are a couple of ways to solve this problem. First, if you know the column limitations that you want to replace any occurrences of the word "dog" with "cat" within columns 4 and 10, then do this:
RE search string: ^(.{3})(.{0,3})dog(.{0,3})(.*)$
RE replacement string: 12cat34
To break this down:
^ - Must match from the beginning of the line
(.{3}) - match any three characters from the line
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
dog - match "dog"
(.{0,3}) - match 0-3 characters from the line
(.*) - match everything else
$ - up to the end of the line
Caveats to this approach
First, make sure you have . matches n unchecked, this would mess it up.
Mixing tabs and spaces won't work, since regular expressions see tabs as just single characters.
Another solution that will work with mixed tabs and spaces
Column select the last column you want to search in. Then type a character that isn't otherwise in the file, for example '|' or '!'.
Column select the first column you want to search in. Do the same thing as before (it can be the same character or a different one).
Now, search for your text within those boundaries.
RE search string: |(.*)dog(.*)|
RE replacement string: |1cat2|
You want to leave your marker characters since you will probably not match every line in your file and you'll want to remove all of them in a second step (either with column select and delete, or with another search/replace).
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
edited Aug 21 '17 at 12:00
Toto
3,38091126
3,38091126
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
answered Aug 28 '15 at 19:37
Scott Gartner
1713
1713
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
-2
down vote
I use the Find/Replace dialog that is presented when you enter Ctrl-r. In the Find/Replace dialog there is a field to enter column numbers. This allows you limit the the Find/Replace to these columns in the file. Normal and regular expression Find/Replace are supported. I could not find how to do this Find/Replace via the Ctrl-h dialog.
Find/Replace dialog (Ctrl-r)
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
add a comment |
up vote
-2
down vote
I use the Find/Replace dialog that is presented when you enter Ctrl-r. In the Find/Replace dialog there is a field to enter column numbers. This allows you limit the the Find/Replace to these columns in the file. Normal and regular expression Find/Replace are supported. I could not find how to do this Find/Replace via the Ctrl-h dialog.
Find/Replace dialog (Ctrl-r)
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
add a comment |
up vote
-2
down vote
up vote
-2
down vote
I use the Find/Replace dialog that is presented when you enter Ctrl-r. In the Find/Replace dialog there is a field to enter column numbers. This allows you limit the the Find/Replace to these columns in the file. Normal and regular expression Find/Replace are supported. I could not find how to do this Find/Replace via the Ctrl-h dialog.
Find/Replace dialog (Ctrl-r)
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
I use the Find/Replace dialog that is presented when you enter Ctrl-r. In the Find/Replace dialog there is a field to enter column numbers. This allows you limit the the Find/Replace to these columns in the file. Normal and regular expression Find/Replace are supported. I could not find how to do this Find/Replace via the Ctrl-h dialog.
Find/Replace dialog (Ctrl-r)
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
edited Feb 27 '16 at 14:47
karel
9,17793138
9,17793138
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
answered Feb 27 '16 at 14:34
GordyCA
1
1
add a comment |
add a comment |
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I can only replace column selected text by first column select and cut, then paste cut text to new lines, then select thos text and replace, then cut and paste to the original place. It's not easy.
– Fisher
Mar 20 '15 at 18:33
How are your columns delimited? Tabs?
– Excellll
Mar 26 '15 at 20:36
Columns are selected by ctrl+alt+left-click.
– Fisher
Mar 27 '15 at 10:41
1
Hi, that's not what I asked. In your file, what character(s) are in between columns? Is it a tab? Several spaces? This is important because the best workaround I see is to use regular expressions to search and replace in a way that doesn't require you to select down a column.
– Excellll
Mar 27 '15 at 14:31
Yes, I know. But it doesn't matter. Suppose it's just just a big chunk of random text, it doesn't have to be any "column" at all. :)
– Fisher
Mar 28 '15 at 4:12