Search and replace question (regular expression)

[Funslinger]

Does the Search and replace function of Edit metadata allow one to conditionally insert text based on whether a capture group actually captured any text?

e.g. If I use the following regular expression in the Search for field

(January)|(February)|(March)|(April)|(May)|(June)| (July)|(August)|(September)|(October)|(November)|( December)

Can I insert the numeric value of the month by doing a conditional check to see which capture group actually captured text?

I have the TextMate editor and this can be done there by using the following Replace with string:

(?1:01)(?2:02)(?3:03)(?4:04)(?5:05)(?6:06)(?7:07)( ?8:08)(?9:09)(?10:10)(?11:11)(?12:12)

The (?#:XXXX) construct means if group # matched, insert XXXX.


Right now, I am having to do 12 separate searches to perform this task. Since I have to perform this particular search and replace on a recurring basis, it would be much easier to create a saved search and replace that performs all 12 replacements at once rather than having to do 12 separate replacements.

Any help woud be greatly appreciated.

[Adoby]

I think you can achieve what you require with the switch statement in a regexp used in a template.

There are examples of how this can be used to match different strings and insert another string, depending on the match.

You can find some examples of this in the sticky thread "Techniques to use plugboards, custom columns and templates" in this subforum.

[Funslinger]

Thanks. I'll look into that.