Quick Regex Question

cptsmidge · 03-05-2012, 08:26 AM

Hey, sorry to bother everyone with another Regex question.

My book has weird question marks in place of hyphens (book?worm, land?locked), and I was trying to replace it, but I can't get the replace string to work.

Right now I'm using this as the search string, which seems to only select the question marks with characters on either side (not proper question marks):

Code:

\w\?\w

But no matter what I try in the "Replace" area, whatever I typed gets inserted into the code.

I tried variations of:

Code:

\1 \2

But no luck.

DiapDealer · 03-05-2012, 08:40 AM

You have no capture groups in your search expression. So it doesn't know what to replace and what to keep.

Code:

(\w)\?(\w)

Code:

\1-\2

should then replace the "?" with the "-" and keep the two original word-characters preceding and following.

cptsmidge · 03-05-2012, 10:26 AM

Oh thank you! Thanks for the quick response too. 1159 replacements made.

DiapDealer · 03-05-2012, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Oh thank you! Thanks for the quick response too. 1159 replacements made.

You're quite welcome. But I hope you stepped through several instances to make sure it was doing what you wanted before you hit "Replace All."

cptsmidge · 03-05-2012, 12:21 PM

Absolutely. I did probably 3 complete html documents before I committed. It isn't perfect, but that's the fault of the inconsistency of the file, not the code.

huebi · 03-05-2012, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

But I hope you stepped through several instances to make sure it was doing what you wanted before you hit "Replace All."

No risk, no fun.

Toxaris · 03-06-2012, 04:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huebi

No risk, no fun.

03-05-2012, 08:26 AM	#1
cptsmidge Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Simple Touch	Quick Regex Question Hey, sorry to bother everyone with another Regex question. My book has weird question marks in place of hyphens (book?worm, land?locked), and I was trying to replace it, but I can't get the replace string to work. Right now I'm using this as the search string, which seems to only select the question marks with characters on either side (not proper question marks): Code: \w\?\w But no matter what I try in the "Replace" area, whatever I typed gets inserted into the code. I tried variations of: Code: \1 \2 But no luck.

03-05-2012, 08:40 AM	#2
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,546 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	You have no capture groups in your search expression. So it doesn't know what to replace and what to keep. Code: (\w)\?(\w) Code: \1-\2 should then replace the "?" with the "-" and keep the two original word-characters preceding and following.

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03-05-2012, 10:26 AM	#3
cptsmidge Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Simple Touch	Oh thank you! Thanks for the quick response too. 1159 replacements made.

03-05-2012, 12:21 PM	#5
cptsmidge Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Simple Touch	Absolutely. I did probably 3 complete html documents before I committed. It isn't perfect, but that's the fault of the inconsistency of the file, not the code.

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