Replace every n linebreak to tabs in a file

Question

is it possible to replace every 4 Lines the Break to a Tab in UE or NPP with a regex search/replace?

File before:

    #12
    ab
    cde
    ef
    #34
    ghij
    ijk
    kl
    #5678
    uv
    w
    xyz
...

should be after replace

#12 ^t ab ^t cde ^t ef
#34 ^t ghij  ^t ijk ^t kl
#5678 ^t uv ^t w  ^t xyz

Are the lines like "ab" always only characters? Or are there might numbers? Or: Is the new first column always starting with #? — frlan, Sep 02 '14 at 11:17
you can achieve above in two steps: 1.Find # and replace with \r\n# 2.Find \s+ and replace with \t — Surinder ツ, Sep 02 '14 at 11:32

Toto · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-02T11:56:25.050

5

Here is a way to do the job:

Find what: (.+)\R(.+)\R(.+)\R(.+\R)?
Replace with: $1\t$2\t$3\t$4

Check Regular Expression
DON'T check dot matches newline
and click Replace All.

Explanation:

(.+)\R   : Capture in group 1 everything until a line break (excluded)
(.+)\R   : Capture in group 2 everything until a line break (excluded)
(.+)\R   : Capture in group 3 everything until a line break (excluded)
(.+\R)?  : Capture in group 4 everything until a line break (included), optional

\R stands for any kind of linebreak (ie. \r or \n or \r\n)

edited Sep 02 '14 at 11:56

answered Sep 02 '14 at 11:39

Toto

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@user3214779: Is it OK? – Toto Sep 02 '14 at 11:57
hi, sorry i am busy the last days and thanks for your solution. it works, except: there are some empty lines without any chars and two or more linebreaks togehter [crlf][crlf] – gsxr1300 Sep 03 '14 at 09:06
@gsxr1300: Just replace `.+` with `.*`. – Toto Sep 03 '14 at 09:09

Tensibai · Answer 2 · 2014-09-02T12:08:07.150

2

[\n\r](?!#) Will do and replace by \t

It will replace crlf if not followed by a # by tab when using windows encoding. (?!#) is a negative lookahead which exclude any \n or \r followed by a # (on next line)

Beware it will leave a space before the tabs, if you really wish only tab between each field you may have to change encoding to have only \n or \r (linux or mac).

edited Sep 02 '14 at 12:08

answered Sep 02 '14 at 11:34

Tensibai

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@Surinderツ As far as I understood, #123 has not to be moved, just the following lines. Replacing the carriage return by tab (unless the last one) makes lines starting by #123. I edited to explain the regex (forgot it, sorry) – Tensibai Sep 02 '14 at 12:06

Replace every n linebreak to tabs in a file

2 Answers2