Matching a line not containing a word in Notepad++

Question

I am trying to match the lines in following not input NOT containing "VelSign" (using Notepad++):

#MARKER VelSign 457.45 50 kmh

#MARKER IsBridge true

#MARKER TrafficSign 45

#MARKER TrafficLight 45 445 444 40

I am using the following regex: ^#MARKER (?!.*VelSign).*$

Doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong?

Now that you have edited out the backslash, this pattern works perfectly fine for me. — Martin Ender, Jun 03 '13 at 20:29
Possible duplicate of [notepad++ Inverse Regex replace (all but string)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8264391/notepad-inverse-regex-replace-all-but-string) — Cees Timmerman, May 30 '16 at 15:54

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

11

Make sure that you upgrade Notepad++ to version 6, as they changed quite a lot in the regex engine. Especially line breaks and lookarounds were a bit problematic in earlier versions.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

Community

answered Jun 03 '13 at 20:28

Martin Ender

sorry about the typo. My regex is : ^#MARKER (?!.*VelSign).*$ – Mihai Galos Jun 03 '13 at 20:29
@MihaiGALOS that works for me. what is it matching for you? (or what is it not matching) – Martin Ender Jun 03 '13 at 20:30
Thanks for the quick feedback. Notepad++ says: Cannot find the text "^#MARKER (?!.*VelSign).*$" – Mihai Galos Jun 03 '13 at 20:34
@MihaiGALOS have you activated regex mode and have you upgraded to the most recent version of Notepad++? Before version 6 there were some significant shortcomings of the regex engine. Also, is the `#` right at the beginning of your lines? If not, add in `\s*` between `^` and `#`. – Martin Ender Jun 03 '13 at 20:35
1

The regex was good indeed! I upgraded before asking the question but it only upgraded to 5.9.2 Thank you for the reply. Please post another answer so I can validate it. – Mihai Galos Jun 03 '13 at 20:40

Jerry · Answer 2 · 2013-06-03T20:39:40.063

11

Turn this:

^#MARKER (?!.\*VelSign).*$

Into this:

^#MARKER (?!.*VelSign).*$

You are escaping the * operator, which causes the match of a literal * instead of 0 or more ..

Also, make sure that you have checked the RegularExpression option (see the third radio button):

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edited Jun 03 '13 at 20:39

answered Jun 03 '13 at 20:28

Jerry

@MihaiGALOS Did you try to use "Find All in Current Document"? – Jerry Jun 03 '13 at 20:35
1

The regex was ok. I upgraded to 5.9.2 before asking, it seems v6 got it matched... :) Thank you. – Mihai Galos Jun 03 '13 at 20:43

2 Answers2