Regular Expression Operators for Search And Replace

Dewwa Socc June 18, 2013 General Comments Off on Regular Expression Operators for Search And Replace

Regular Expression Search – Match Operators
Operator Description
*
Zero or more expressions enclosed in () or can be used by itself (see below). This operator is meant to be used around strings. Entering several expressions in a row containing * should be carefully done to avoid overlapping characters which can produce unpredictable matches. A list of characters to match can be specified, e.g.,
       *(is) will match zero or more strings such as: is, crisis
Windows *[0-9] will match Windows 95
 
This operator can also be used to match all characters between two strings, e.g.,
Win*95 will match Windows 1995, Win 95, Windows 95
*(is) will match zero or more strings such as: is, isis
 
Note: Using the * operator at the beginning of the line will match all characters from the start of the line and at the end, to the end of the line. You can match characters between two or more strings up to 32767 characters (32K) apart by specifying a range after the * operator, e.g.,
Windows*[]95 will match up to 32767 characters (on several lines) between Windows and 95
Windows*[\0-ÿ] will also accomplish the same match (older syntax)
 
Note: When * is combined with a numeric range and the %n> or %n>starting value> replacement operators, the search expression above, Windows *[0-9], would be part of a Regular Expression Counter Operation.
+
One or more expressions enclosed in (), e.g.,
       +(is) will match one or more strings such as: is, crisis.
?
Exactly one expression enclosed in () or any one character, e.g.,
     ?(is) will match the string is.
 
This operator can also be used to match any character between two strings or before or after a string. This is the main use for this operator. E.g.,
Win?95 will match Win 1995, Win-95, Win/95 etc.
 
Note: Using the ? operator by itself will match every character in a file one at a time and should be avoided.
!
Note: This is for version 3.1 and above. See below for syntax for older verions.
A match will be made when both a ‘positive’ hit component and a !() or ![] component of the expression are found. The complete expression requires both components. The first may be as simple as a single regular expression operator such as * or ?. The ! component should be enclosed in () or []. Additional postive hit strings &/or regular expressions to find may be specified after !() or ![]. Note, however, that regular expressions following the !() or ![] will not be available to the %n operators.

?at!((b|c)at)
*file!(beg*file) *98!(Windows 98) *98!(+[a-z ]98)  

#include*!()”C  

 mat & sat but not ‘b’at or ‘c’at
a file & this file but not ‘beginning of file’
98 in 1998 but not in ‘Windows 98’
98 in 1998 but not in ‘Windows 98’
“ChildFrm.h” in “#include “ChildFrm.h”” but finds nothing in “#include “Edit.h””. This example uses !() as an AND operator.
  
Note: More than one ! component can be specified. For example:

.H%4>]
The results might be: 
#include [stdafx.h]  to    #exclude [STDAFX.H]
#include  to #exclude [DOS.H]
#include [my_include.hpp]   to #exclude [MY_INCLUDE.HPP]
#include [sr32.h]  to #exclude [SR32.H]

In this example:

Replace Operator    Search Operator
%1 ?
%2 (]

These parameters can be used several times, omitted or used in any order.
will replace the original first matched expression with its upper case version.
%n> Counter Operator. When used in conjunction with numeric regular expression search (e.g., *[0-9]), %n> begins incrementing with a value of +1 from the value of the first number found by *[0-9]. For example:

Given the series:   page5.htm, page2.htm, page4.htm
Search Expression:   page*[0-9]
Replacement Expression:   page%n>
The results would be:   page6.htm, page7.htm, page8.htm
%n>#> Counter Operator. This operator allows you to specify a starting value for an incrementing replacement counter. %n>starting value> begins incrementing with a value of +1 from the starting value you supply. This counter operator also respects the number of digit places you supply. To begin incrementing with a value of 1, use the expression %n>0>. The expression %n>000> would begin replacements with a a value of 001. Another example is:

Given the series:   Var19, Var82, Var8
Search Expression:   Var*[0-9]
Replacement Expression:   Var%n>99>
The results would be:   Var100, Var101, Var102

Top | Search & Replace Features | Search & Replace Page

Top | Search & Replace Features | Search & Replace Page

Regular Expression Search & Replacement Examples

Search
Expression
Replacement
Expression

Effect
*.* %1>.%2> c:\windows\win.ini ==> C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI
+[a-z] %1> Windows ==> WINDOWS
7*.htm 5%1.htm 711.htm ==> 511.htm
7days.htm ==> 5days.htm
[253]7[832].htm %15%2.htm 3572.htm ==> 3552.htm
*[253]7[832].htm %15%2.htm 72.htm ==> 52.htm
(homepage|index).htm %11.htm homepage.htm ==> homepage1.htm
index.htm ==> index1.htm
+(12)[0-9] %1%2a 12532 ==> 12532a
1212753 ==> 1212753a
???*(d|m).htm %1%2%3d1.htm card.htm ==> card1.htm
form.htm ==> form1.htm
back2.jpg*[]height=”30″ back2.jpg%1height=”32″ A multiline Search/Replace changing the height setting for ‘back2.jpg’ regardless of differing ‘alt’ text or how the html editor line breaks the code, e.g., src=”images/back2.jpg” alt=”Go Back”  border=”0″ width=”57″

 height=”30“

Becomes: src=”images/back2.jpg” alt=”Go Back” border=”0″ width=”57″

height=”32“
?(Windows) OS/2 Windows ==> OS/2 (just kidding)

Top | Search & Replace Features | Search & Replace Page

Regular Expression Counters
Regular Expression search & replace Counter Operations allow you to quickly revise a sequence of numbers in one or more files. You can also insert sequential numbers to text strings where no numbers exist originally. Counter operations make use of *[0-9] regular expression search operator and either the %n> or %n>user defined starting value> regular expression replacement operators.

The %n> replacement operator begins incrementing by one with a value of +1 from the value found by your *[0-9] expression (e.g.*[0-9]+1). The %n>user defined starting value> replacement operator increments by one beginning with a value of (user defined starting value+1). This counter operator also respects the number of digit places you supply. Incrementing counter operations may be combined with other regular expression search & replace operators. For example, a search expression such as (file|variable)*[0-9] with a counter replacement expression such as %1%2>100> is perfectly legal.
 

Regular Expression Counter Examples
 
Initial Contents:   Windows 98 will be released in 5 days.
Search String:   *[0-9]
Replace String:   %1>
Results:   Windows 99 will be released 100 days.
        
Initial Contents:   file.htm, file.htm, ffillee.htm
Search String:   e*[0-9].htm
Replace String:   e%1>.htm
Results:  file2.htm, file3.htm, ffillee4.htm
 
Initial Contents:   Var22 Var20 Var86 Var30
Search String:   Var*[0-9]
Replace String:   Var%1>49>
Results:   Var50 Var51 Var52 Var53
 
Initial Contents:   Var22 Var20 Var86 Var30
Search String:   Var*[0-9]
Replace String:   Var%1>00>
Results:   Var01 Var02 Var03 Var04
 
Initial Contents:   VarA101 VarB12 VarC0 VarA102 VarB45
Search String:   Var[a-z]*[0-9]
Replace String:   Var%1%2>08>
Results:   VarA09 VarB10 VarC11 VarA12 VarB13

Top | Search & Replace Features | Search & Replace Page

Special Replacement Operators – %%srpath%% & %%srfile%%
Search and Replace currently has two special replacement operators – %%srpath%% and %%srfile%%. %%srpath%% inserts the path to the file in which the search string was found and %%srfile%% inserts the filename of that file. %%srpath%% and %%srfile%% can be used in ordinary search & replace operations,  Regular Expression operations, Regular Expression counters, & Binary mode operations.   

%%srpath%% & %%srfile%% Examples
 
 Ordinary Search/Replace 
      File Searched:   D:\Example\Test.txt
Initial String in File:   Page No.
Search String:   Page No.
Replace String:   %%srpath%%%%srfile%% Page No.
Results:   D:\Example\Test.txt Page No.
 
Complex Search/Replace
Files Searched:   home.htm; index.html
File Mask:   *.htm*
Initial String in File:   Last Updated: 10/10/97 and Last Updated 10/12/97
Regular Expression Search String:   Last Updated: *[0-9]/*[0-9]/*[0-9]
Binary Mode Replace String:   Last Updated %1/%2/%3\r\nUrl: %%srfile%%
Results:   Last Updated: 10/10/97 Url: home.htm     and Last Updated: 10/12/97

Url: index.html

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Environment Operators
You can search for, or make replacements based on, Environment Variables via the Binary Mode dialog or a Regular Expression string. Searches may be case sensitive or not. The syntax is: %%envvar=variable name%%

where variable name is the name of the environment variable to use. For example, to search for the environment variable temp, enter the string

%%envvar=temp%%

in the binary mode search block field or your regular expression. If the value of your temp environment variable is c:\windows\temp, search hits would occur wherever the string c:\windows\temp is found. If Case Sensitive is on, c:\windows\temp would be found but C:\WINDOWS\TEMP would not.

To insert the value of the environment variable winbootdir in a replacement string, enter the string %%envvar=winbootdir%%

in binary mode replace block field or your regular expression. If the value of your winbootdir variable is C:\WINDOWS, the string C:\WINDOWS would be used in replacements.

Courtesy Funduc Software ©2000 Funduc Software. All rights reserved.

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