Google App Script findText regex not working for new line character

Question

I'm trying to locate/modify text in my Google Document where the text has been broken across a full line break. My regular expression below works when I manually find text in the Google document (CTRL+F) and then search via the regular expression dialog. What is baffling is why the exact same regex doesn't work in the code below on full line breaks, i.e. "\n" (note: the soft line "\v" breaks are ok).

The second approach finds the text but I'm unable to do anything with it as I need the element object in-order to manipulate the text.

  //Test document 1Q6v8ipqA81LoPtpk71NdqTaIEqMjki1KIJbrm0bILBg contains the following text:
  //
  //This Agreement shall not be assigned by either party without the prior\n
  //written consent of the parties hereto

  var doc = DocumentApp.openById('1Q6v8ipqA81LoPtpk71NdqTaIEqMjki1KIJbrm0bILBg');          

  //Method 1 - does NOT locate the text
  var body = doc.getBody(); 
  var pattern = "prior[\s]*written";  
  var foundElement = body.findText(pattern);    
  while (foundElement != null) {
    var foundText = foundElement.getElement().asText();    
    var start = foundElement.getStartOffset();
    var end = foundElement.getEndOffsetInclusive();

    foundElement = body.findText(pattern, foundElement);      
  }

  //Method 2 - locates the text, but I cannot acquire the element object 
  var body2 = doc.getBody().getText(); 
  var pattern2 = /prior[\s]*written/; 
  while (m=pattern2.exec(body2)) 
  { 
    Logger.log(m[0]);         
  }
}

Just to make sure: did you try adding `\r`? `"written[ \r\v\n]*consent"`? — Wiktor Stribiżew, Aug 24 '18 at 08:20
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_gdcD0jT0jRVf0E3MfTqSZi_5gryznPYdNUoe-89Ors The carriage return is after the text "prior": This Agreement shall not be assigned by either party without the prior written consent of the parties hereto. — Paul Brown, Aug 24 '18 at 11:48
It works like `var body = doc.getBody().getText(); var pattern = /written\s*consent/g; while (m=pattern.exec(body)) { Logger.log(m[0]); }` — Wiktor Stribiżew, Aug 24 '18 at 13:12
Possible duplicate of [Eliminate newlines in google app script using regex](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37771381/eliminate-newlines-in-google-app-script-using-regex) — tehhowch, Aug 24 '18 at 13:47
The "\s" switch kind-of works. Problem is that it just returns the found string. I need the getStartOffset and getEndOffsetInclusive values in-order to locate/manipulate the text — Paul Brown, Aug 24 '18 at 14:00
I'm still fighting with this simple use-case. Is it really not possible to search for text that is broken across a hard line break and subsequently highlight that text? Seems like a basic use-case — Paul Brown, Aug 30 '18 at 13:37
@PaulBrown, have you ever found an answer? Struggling as well! Thanks — Greg Forel, Dec 10 '19 at 14:16

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 03 '20 at 22:49

If this were ever going to work, you would need the regex to be in s (single line) mode. Per https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/document/body#findtextsearchpattern,

A subset of the JavaScript regular expression features are not fully supported, such as capture groups and mode modifiers.

So it looks like they have in fact chosen not to support multi-line matches in any way.

Google App Script findText regex not working for new line character

1 Answers1