ultraedit find quote and replace

Question

I have a row that looks like this:

'ABCD','ABKCKD','ADFL','3','43

In UltraEdit, I am trying to find '3',' and replace that as 3, I tried to find as ['][\d]+['][,]['] and found '3','

However, when I tried to replace it as [\d]+[,], it doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Use `'(\d+)','` and replace with `$1,'` – Wiktor Stribiżew Oct 20 '17 at 15:53 — Wiktor Stribiżew, Oct 20 '17 at 15:53
`'3','43` ... why does 43 have a missing right quote? – Tim Biegeleisen Oct 20 '17 at 15:55 — Tim Biegeleisen, Oct 20 '17 at 15:55
I just ignored the last quote. Sorry for the confusion. – ShinKoo Kang Oct 20 '17 at 15:57 — ShinKoo Kang, Oct 20 '17 at 15:57

Ashish Ranjan · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-20T16:05:14.310

0

You first need to capture the number between the quotes, you can do it like this using capturing group ():

'([\d]+)','

then use the captured digit using ^1 so your replace would be : ^1,

Ultraedit regex usage reference

edited Oct 20 '17 at 16:05

answered Oct 20 '17 at 15:56

Ashish Ranjan

5,523
2
18
39

It properly captures the part that I want. However, when I tried to replace it, it literally shows $1 instead of just the digit – ShinKoo Kang Oct 20 '17 at 15:59
try this `^1`, also in find use `^(` & `^)` – Ashish Ranjan Oct 20 '17 at 16:04
ultraedit mentions using `^1` instead of `/1`, ref : https://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials-power-tips/ultraedit/regular-expressions.html – Ashish Ranjan Oct 20 '17 at 16:06
also you should try replacing `'3'` with `3` and not `'3','` with `3,` as it won't for the last number, if any. – Ashish Ranjan Oct 20 '17 at 16:08

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 20 '17 at 19:20

UltraEdit has support for 3 different regular expression engines:

Perl ... the most powerful regexp engine using Boost Perl regexp library.
UltraEdit ... the native regexp engine of UltraEdit with syntax like in Microsoft Office.
Unix ... UltraEdit regexp engine with Perl regexp syntax (more or less).

The IDM power tip tagged expressions explains the usage of marking/capturing/tagging groups on running an UltraEdit regular expression replace.

The IDM power tip Perl regular expressions: Backreferences explains the usage of marking/capturing groups on running a Perl regular expression replace. This syntax can be also used for legacy Unix regexp engine with limited capabilities.

[...] defines a character class/set, i.e. a list of characters. Any character within the square brackets can or must be found for a positive search. Using a character set does not make much sense for a single character like ' and ,. It is possible to use ['][\d]+['][,]['], but it is much easier to use as search string '\d+','.

Please note that the escape sequence \d in a Unix/Perl regexp search string defines a characters set for any digit. The equivalent in an UltraEdit and by chance also in Unix/Perl regexp search string is [0-9].

The replace can be done with search string '^([0-9]+^)',' and replace string ^1,' on using UltraEdit regular expression engine.

The replace can be done with search string '(\d+)',' and replace string \1,' on using Unix or Perl regular expression engine.

With the Perl regexp engine it is also possible to use for this replace the search string '(\d+)'(?=,') with replace string \1 because of ,' is specified in a positive lookahead which does not match/select characters.

ultraedit find quote and replace

2 Answers2