Using Find/Replace with BD

Otter · 10-11-2007, 02:17 PM

I love using BD, but am having trouble using its find/replace function. I have a document that is riddled with bracket enclosed numbers that I'd like to remove. Things like [1], [23], [245] etc. I can't seem to figure out how to use any type of wildcards within the brackets for BD to match on. I've tried reading the built-in tutorial on regexp, but yikes...waaay over my head.

Anyone know of a straightforward way to do this just using BD?

Many thanks in advance!

slayda · 10-11-2007, 02:25 PM

I don't know either but would sure be interested in the answer. The way I handled this problem before was to export to MS Word where I knew how to use wildcards. It worked but it would be much easier if I could have done it in BD.

JSWolf · 10-11-2007, 02:33 PM

if you hit f2, that brings up the search/replace dialog and you can search/replace on a RegExp. I don't have the code handy, but I have done it before and it has worked for me.

Nate the great · 10-11-2007, 02:48 PM

Try this regular expression

\[[0-9]*\]

Or try this one:

\[[0-9]+\]

Otter · 10-11-2007, 05:16 PM

Awesome, Nate...Nate the Great indeed.

Thanks a ton!

slayda · 10-11-2007, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otter

Awesome, Nate...Nate the Great indeed.

Thanks a ton!

Ditto!!

Nate the great · 10-11-2007, 10:52 PM

You are both welcome.

I happened to have a lex & yacc textbook next to me so I looked it up.

BTW, the '*' and '+' give slightly different results because

'*' matches zero or more characters inside the brackets, and

'+' matches one or more characters inside the brackets.

[a-z]
[A-Z]
[0-9]
[ ]
Each of the preceding is a variation of "match one of what's inside the brackets". They respectively mean look for only lowercase, uppercase, digits, and spaces. Note that the last one is not empty; it has a space in it. Also they can be combined.
[0-9a-zA-Z]
Please note the lack of spaces.

_{a,b} Match what is immediately before the brackets no less than a, no more than b.

_? Match zero or one occurrences of what's immediately before the '?'. Very useful for matching negative and positive numbers.

\_ Match whatever follows the '\' literally.

"match what is in between the quotes literally"

All of the above can be combined, but be careful.
That is most of what you will need for BD. Warning: I have not tested all of it in BD. But it is standard UNIX stuff from the textbook. It should work.

svakanda · 02-28-2009, 01:49 PM

yeah use regexes, definitely the best way.

10-11-2007, 02:17 PM	#1
Otter Connoisseur Posts: 66 Karma: 79 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Fairfax, Va Device: PRS-500, PRS-505, PRS-650, ipod Touch, ipad 2, NC, Kindle Scribe	Using Find/Replace with BD I love using BD, but am having trouble using its find/replace function. I have a document that is riddled with bracket enclosed numbers that I'd like to remove. Things like [1], [23], [245] etc. I can't seem to figure out how to use any type of wildcards within the brackets for BD to match on. I've tried reading the built-in tutorial on regexp, but yikes...waaay over my head. Anyone know of a straightforward way to do this just using BD? Many thanks in advance!

10-11-2007, 10:52 PM	#7
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	You are both welcome. I happened to have a lex & yacc textbook next to me so I looked it up. BTW, the '' and '+' give slightly different results because '' matches zero or more characters inside the brackets, and '+' matches one or more characters inside the brackets. [a-z] [A-Z] [0-9] [ ] Each of the preceding is a variation of "match one of what's inside the brackets". They respectively mean look for only lowercase, uppercase, digits, and spaces. Note that the last one is not empty; it has a space in it. Also they can be combined. [0-9a-zA-Z] Please note the lack of spaces. _{a,b} Match what is immediately before the brackets no less than a, no more than b. _? Match zero or one occurrences of what's immediately before the '?'. Very useful for matching negative and positive numbers. \_ Match whatever follows the '\' literally. "match what is in between the quotes literally" All of the above can be combined, but be careful. That is most of what you will need for BD. Warning: I have not tested all of it in BD. But it is standard UNIX stuff from the textbook. It should work. Last edited by Nate the great; 10-11-2007 at 10:56 PM.

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10-11-2007, 02:25 PM	#2
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	I don't know either but would sure be interested in the answer. The way I handled this problem before was to export to MS Word where I knew how to use wildcards. It worked but it would be much easier if I could have done it in BD.

10-11-2007, 02:33 PM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,249 Karma: 145488788 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	if you hit f2, that brings up the search/replace dialog and you can search/replace on a RegExp. I don't have the code handy, but I have done it before and it has worked for me.

10-11-2007, 02:48 PM	#4
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Try this regular expression \[[0-9]*\] Or try this one: \[[0-9]+\]

10-11-2007, 05:16 PM	#5
Otter Connoisseur Posts: 66 Karma: 79 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Fairfax, Va Device: PRS-500, PRS-505, PRS-650, ipod Touch, ipad 2, NC, Kindle Scribe	Awesome, Nate...Nate the Great indeed. Thanks a ton!

02-28-2009, 01:49 PM	#8
svakanda Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 44 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: none	yeah use regexes, definitely the best way.

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