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Is there a way to limit search/replace only to a columnar block selection in Notepad++?

Here is what I am trying to do:

  • I am bulk-editing metadata extracted from large numbers of photos.

  • The metadata comes to me as a csv file with no quotes around fields in header line and no quotes around first field in each succeeding line.

  • I edit this file in Open Office calc which exports with quotes around all fields.

  • I can easily edit header row but the problem comes in stripping quotes from only first field in successive lines.

  • I can use notepad in columnar mode but, after selecting the first column, the 'search only in selection' option box is greyed out.

  • I can do this by hand but it means lots of hand-work and increased chance of error.

Cœur
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The _traveler
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5 Answers5

2

I know, this probably won't help you any more, but I just had the same problem and stumbled across this question.

I found moving the block in question to a new file and performing the find/replace there works quite decently. When moving the block back, be sure to select it in block mode (see this question).

Community
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Niklaus Messerli
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No. Another editor may have this feature.

Charles Barkles
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sort of a late reply but... I had the same problem when I moved to a new machine with Notepad++ installed. Previously, I was using a text editor called Boxer that had this feature, which I found invaluable. Its not free-ware however.

RJCL
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You may not be able to Search/Replace within a columnar selection, but you can easily carry out your task within Notepad++. Use Find and Replace feature, with the Regular Expressions box checked.

If you want to remove quotes only from a target column, use the following regular expression in the Find field:

 (^([^,]*,){i})"([^,\n\r]*)"(.*$)

Replace i with the position of the target column minus 1.

(i.e.- Us 2 if you want quotes around the third column, 0 for the first column, etc)

In the Replace field use:

 \1\3\4

Clicking "Replace All" will strip quotes from the target column.

If you want to blow away all quotes surrounding each element in your csv without prejudice, use the following regular expression in the Find field:

 ((?<=,)|(?<=^))"(.*?)"((?=$|,))

In the Replace field use:

 \1\2\3

Clicking Replace All will strip quotes form the columns.

Example

Since you didn't provide an example csv file, I'll walk through my own working example. Below is my csv:

 "0","1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9"
 "10","11","12","13","14","15","16","17","18","19"
 "20","21","22","23","24","25","26","27","28","29"
 "30","31","32","33","34","35","36","37","38","39"
 "40","41","42","43","44","45","46","47","48","49"
 "50","51","52","53","54","55","56","57","58","59"
 "60","61","62","63","64","65","66","67","68","69"
 "70","71","72","73","74","75","76","77","78","79"
 "80","81","82","83","84","85","86","87","88","89"
 "90","91","92","93","94","95","96","97","98","99"
 "100","101","102","103","104","105","106","107","108","109"
 "110","111","112","113","114","115","116","117","118","119"
 "120","121","122","123","124","125","126","127","128","129"
 "130","131","132","133","134","135","136","137","138","139"
 "140","141","142","143","144","145","146","147","148","149"
 "150","151","152","153","154","155","156","157","158","159"
 "160","161","162","163","164","165","166","167","168","169"
 "170","171","172","173","174","175","176","177","178","179"
 "180","181","182","183","184","185","186","187","188","189"
 "190","191","192","193","194","195","196","197","198","199"

If I wanted to remove quotes from the second column, I would use the below Find and Replace fields

 (^([^,]*,){1})"([^,\n\r]*)"(.*$)

 \1"\3"\4

Clicking Replace All yields the below result:

 "0",1,"2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9"
 "10",11,"12","13","14","15","16","17","18","19"
 "20",21,"22","23","24","25","26","27","28","29"
 "30",31,"32","33","34","35","36","37","38","39"
 "40",41,"42","43","44","45","46","47","48","49"
 "50",51,"52","53","54","55","56","57","58","59"
 "60",61,"62","63","64","65","66","67","68","69"
 "70",71,"72","73","74","75","76","77","78","79"
 "80",81,"82","83","84","85","86","87","88","89"
 "90",91,"92","93","94","95","96","97","98","99"
 "100",101,"102","103","104","105","106","107","108","109"
 "110",111,"112","113","114","115","116","117","118","119"
 "120",121,"122","123","124","125","126","127","128","129"
 "130",131,"132","133","134","135","136","137","138","139"
 "140",141,"142","143","144","145","146","147","148","149"
 "150",151,"152","153","154","155","156","157","158","159"
 "160",161,"162","163","164","165","166","167","168","169"
 "170",171,"172","173","174","175","176","177","178","179"
 "180",181,"182","183","184","185","186","187","188","189"
 "190",191,"192","193","194","195","196","197","198","199"
Brandon Dutton
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My search on internet, to to see weather notepad++ suports this; brought me here. I have used TextPad and confirm that it supports find-and-replace within column selected block. Also TextPad is free for personal use.

andrewJames
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Himanshu Mistry
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