Notepad++ File Filters

Question

I was wondering if it was possible to list an exclusion within the file filters in the "find in files" functionality of Notepad++.

For example the following will replace Dog with Cat in all files.

Find what: Dog

Replace with: Cat

Filters: *.*

What I would like to do is replace Dog with Cat in all files except those in .sh files.

Is this possible?

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18

I think something like a "negative selector" does not exist in Notepad++.

I took a quick look at the 5.6.6 source code and it seems like the file selection mechanism boils down to a function called getMatchedFilenames() which recursively runs through all the files below a certain directory, which in turn calls the following function to see whether the filename matches the pattern:

bool Notepad_plus::matchInList(const TCHAR *fileName, const vector<generic_string> & patterns)
{
    for (size_t i = 0 ; i < patterns.size() ; i++)
    {
        if (PathMatchSpec(fileName, patterns[i].c_str()))
            return true;
    }
    return false;
}

As far as I can determine, PathMatchSpec does not allow negative selectors.

It is however possible to enter a list of positive filters. If you could make that list long enough to include all the extensions in your directory except .sh, you're also there.

Good luck!

Use the PathMatchSpec to exclude a file match pattern if the pattern starts with "-" a minus sign for instance. That will need say two bool variables: matched and excluded. The method will not have a return from within the loop. The final return will be !excluded && matched — Robert Cutajar, Oct 15 '12 at 16:15

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

Great answer by littlegreen.
Unfortunate that Notepad++ can't do it.

This tested example will do the trick (Python). replace method thanks to Thomas Watnedal:

from tempfile import mkstemp
import glob
import os
import shutil

def replace(file, pattern, subst):
    """ from Thomas Watnedal's answer to SO question 39086 
        search-and-replace-a-line-in-a-file-in-python
    """
    fh, abs_path = mkstemp() # create temp file
    new_file = open(abs_path,'w')
    old_file = open(file)
    for line in old_file:
        new_file.write(line.replace(pattern, subst))
    new_file.close() # close temp file
    os.close(fh)
    old_file.close()
    os.remove(file) # remove original file
    shutil.move(abs_path, file) # move new file

def main():
    DIR = '/path/to/my/dir'

    path = os.path.join(DIR, "*")
    files = glob.glob(path)

    for f in files:
        if not f.endswith('.sh'):
            replace(f, 'dog', "cat")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Way cool. And then you can add the script to the list of executables in the Nppexec plugin. Real coders don't need GUI's :-) — littlegreen, Feb 03 '10 at 06:50

Notepad++ File Filters

2 Answers2