Finding and replacing blank lines regex in Notepad++

Question

I'm using Notepad++ and basically I want to find all blank lines that don't contain text using Notepad++ regex. I know that there is a simpler way of doing this by using 'textfx,' but I'm looking for an expression to do this. Here is an example below with the symbols shown.

< ?php **CRLF**
**CRLF**                        *<- REMOVE THIS* 
$xxx = $_POST['xxx'];**CRLF**
$xxx = $_POST['xxx'];**CRLF**
$xxx = $_POST['xxx'];**CRLF**
**CRLF**                        *<- REMOVE THIS* 
**CRLF**                        *<- REMOVE THIS* 
if ($xxx)**CRLF**
{**CRLF**

score 25 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '13 at 11:58

25

Not a regular expression, but Notepad++ 6.3.2 has a number of ways of removing blank lines without using a regular expression.

Menu => Edit => Line operations => Remove empty lines

Menu => Edit => Line operations => Remove empty lines (containing blank characters)

Menu => TextFx => TextFx Edit => Delete blank lines

Menu => TextFx => TextFx Edit => Delete surplus blank lines

The two TextFx methods only delete empty lines, but they can be preceded with either of:

Menu => Edit => Blank operations => Trim trailing spaces

Menu => TextFx => vTextFx Edit** => Trim trailing spaces

answered Jun 02 '13 at 11:58

AdrianHHH

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Way helpful, thanks! – Coreus Aug 12 '15 at 13:49
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It may have been what he wanted, but this doesn't answer the question. – searchengine27 Dec 15 '15 at 01:17

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered May 31 '13 at 17:16

9

I just did find ^\r\n and replace with nothing

answered May 31 '13 at 17:16

Ivan

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score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 17:46

9

I've only been able to do this by using the "Extended" search mode in the Replace dialog (not "Regular expression" mode).

The search term I use is \r\n\r\n, and I replace it with \r\n. You have to keep repeating this until there were no changes, if there can be even more newlines in a row.

I also wish there was a better RegEx engine in Notepad++ with the ability to do multi-line searches.

answered Mar 21 '11 at 17:46

Justin

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Ok thanks for the quick reply. but when i use \r\n and replace with nothing all the code moves to one line anyway to solve this? – keith Fesed Mar 21 '11 at 17:50
@keith - Sorry, I already edited my post -- you need to search for two sequential newline sequences and replace them with a single one. – Justin Mar 21 '11 at 17:52
This is good if you have done "trim trailing and save" first. Otherwise whitespace will spoil it. – mckenzm Oct 10 '17 at 01:00

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 17:59

Its possible, but not directly.

In short, go to the search, use the regex ^$ to search, check "mark lines" (in the current version there is a seperate mark tab in the search dialogue) and click "Find all". It results in bookmarks for all those lines.

In the search menu there is a point "delete bookmarked lines" thats it.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 14 '13 at 09:00

0

In Notepad v6.2.2 there is option called Extended(\t\n......)
and In replace box, provide \r\n it works fine

answered Feb 14 '13 at 09:00

MyStack

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 17:46

Without using TextFx I don't think you can. There's no way I know of to tell the Find and Replace in Notepad++ that you want to delete the line. You can find all those lines by searching for '^$' (minus the quotes) with Regular Expression turned on. But the best you can do is replace it with an empty string, not a delete.

Finding and replacing blank lines regex in Notepad++

6 Answers6

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