Regex search and replace

[yamusing]

I'm trying to capture and move certain text within the tag colums to another column for 100s of books but I find it too complex to do within regex. How can I do the following with the regex search and replace, within the tags column example:
"5-glass, apple, group:95#TR4, Hefine94, weight:140lbs (acc), Z97-A.5"
"case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%, weight:@eightySix'Kilos"
"case:AR5steel, dark, group:R3.R4.R5, group:Fractal-group"

I want to capture the characters after "weight:" but not the comma or anything after that, then move that piece of text into another column. After that remove "weight:" and the captured text from the tags column. Is this possible?

[theducks]

NOT Tested: Copy to new

\,\s(weight:.+?)\,*


Replace: \1
Destination field : <your other column> <<<this is important or you will lose the rest of the tags

Search for a comma Space
Capture weight an up, but not including a comma (optional)

The cleanup is a whole lot trickier
AND SERIOUSLY NOT TESTED Make a Backup, there is no Undo

I would do as 2 steps
First is where Weigh is the last item (this should just truncate it away)

(.+)\,\sweight:.+?
Replace:\1

Second is similar, but carves out weight and puts the 2 chunks together with a comma space
(.+)\,\sweight:.+?\,\s(.+)
Replace:\1, \2

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by theducks

NOT Tested: Copy to new

\,\s(weight:.+?)\,*


Replace: \1
Destination field : <your other column> <<<this is important or you will lose the rest of the tags

Search for a comma Space
Capture weight an up, but not including a comma (optional)

The cleanup is a whole lot trickier
AND SERIOUSLY NOT TESTED Make a Backup, there is no Undo

I would do as 2 steps
First is where Weigh is the last item (this should just truncate it away)

(.+)\,\sweight:.+?
Replace:\1

Second is similar, but carves out weight and puts the 2 chunks together with a comma space
(.+)\,\sweight:.+?\,\s(.+)
Replace:\1, \2

I've tried all three but it captures the whole tag line. I have regular expression in search mode.

\,\s(weight:.+?)\,*
Replace: \1
test case "case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%, weight:@eightySix'Kilos"

test result "case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%weight:@eightySix'Kilos"

[chaley]

On tags (and any other multiple-valued column) Search/Replace regexs operate on a tag-by-tag basis. Tags cannot contain a comma, so you must not look for one.

If you want to operate on tags as a single string then you must use "template" as the source and use {tags} as the template.

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by chaley

On tags (and any other multiple-valued column) Search/Replace regexs operate on a tag-by-tag basis. Tags cannot contain a comma, so you must not look for one.

If you want to operate on tags as a single string then you must use "template" as the source and use {tags} as the template.

I've tried using regex search for "(weight:.+)" replace with "{\1}". I got this:

"5-glass apple group:95#TR4 Hefine94 {weight:140lbs (acc)} Z97-A.5"
"case:AR5steel group:Fractal-group heavy T*m5% {weight:@eightySix'Kilos}"
"case:AR5steel dark group:R3.R4.R5 group:Fractal-group"

How do I make the search and replace capture everything in the "{}" then move only that not including the parentheses to another field? Then removing the text within "{ }" and parentheses itself in the tag column?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by yamusing

I've tried using regex search for "(weight:.+)" replace with "{\1}". I got this:

"5-glass apple group:95#TR4 Hefine94 {weight:140lbs (acc)} Z97-A.5"
"case:AR5steel group:Fractal-group heavy T*m5% {weight:@eightySix'Kilos}"
"case:AR5steel dark group:R3.R4.R5 group:Fractal-group"

How do I make the search and replace capture everything in the "{}" then move only that not including the parentheses to another field? Then removing the text within "{ }" and parentheses itself in the tag column?

The easiest way to do this is to use template as the source. That makes it easier to delete text across tag boundaries.

To copy the text to a new column:

Source: template
Template: {tags}
Search for: ^.*, (weight:.+), .*$
Replace with: \1
Destination: whatever the name of your column is

To delete the text from tags:

Source: template
Template: {tags}
Search for: ^(.*), weight:.+(, .*)$
Replace with: \1\2
Destination: tags

BTW: your input examples in the first post do not contain {} characters

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by chaley

The easiest way to do this is to use template as the source. That makes it easier to delete text across tag boundaries.

To copy the text to a new column:

Source: template
Template: {tags}
Search for: ^.*, (weight:.+), .*$
Replace with: \1
Destination: whatever the name of your column is

To delete the text from tags:

Source: template
Template: {tags}
Search for: ^(.*), weight:.+(, .*)$
Replace with: \1\2
Destination: tags

BTW: your input examples in the first post do not contain {} characters

I've never used the template functions, how would I input this into there?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by yamusing

I've never used the template functions, how would I input this into there?

Like this.

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by chaley

Like this.

thanks it seems to work for the first field but the others tag fields in my other books aren't working

test: "5-glass, apple, group:95#TR4, Hefine94, weight:140lbs (acc), Z97-A.5"
result: "weight:140lbs (acc)"

test: "case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%, weight:@eightySix'Kilos"
result: "case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%, weight:@eightySix'Kilos"

test: case:AR5steel, light, group:Fractal-group, weight:@seventyOne'Kilos, Xeon, ZRX0, ZRX4"
result: "weight:@seventyOne'Kilos, Xeon, ZRX0"

[chaley]

Originally Posted by yamusing

thanks it seems to work for the first field but the others tag fields in my other books aren't working

test: "5-glass, apple, group:95#TR4, Hefine94, weight:140lbs (acc), Z97-A.5"
result: "weight:140lbs (acc)"

test: "case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%, weight:@eightySix'Kilos"
result: "case:AR5steel, group:Fractal-group, heavy, T*m5%, weight:@eightySix'Kilos"

test: case:AR5steel, light, group:Fractal-group, weight:@seventyOne'Kilos, Xeon, ZRX0, ZRX4"
result: "weight:@seventyOne'Kilos, Xeon, ZRX0"

The regular expression needs to account for the position of the desired field in the string. which can be first, middle, or last. For example:

^(.*?, *|)(weight:.+?|)(,.*?|)$

The above expression doesn't work if there isn't a "weight:...." tag somewhere in the list.

I leave it to you to figure out how to change the expression you use to delete the tag from the tag set. The change will be similar.

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by chaley

The regular expression needs to account for the position of the desired field in the string. which can be first, middle, or last. For example:

^(.*?, *|)(weight:.+?|)(,.*?|)$

The above expression doesn't work if there isn't a "weight:...." tag somewhere in the list.

I leave it to you to figure out how to change the expression you use to delete the tag from the tag set. The change will be similar.

is it possible to excude the "weight:" text from moving to the other field?

test: "case:AR5steel, light, group:Fractal-group, weight:@seventyOne'Kilos, Xeon, ZRX0, ZRX4"
result: "weight:@seventyOne'Kilos"

The result am looking for is "@seventyOne'Kilos".

[chaley]

Originally Posted by yamusing

is it possible to excude the "weight:" text from moving to the other field?

test: "case:AR5steel, light, group:Fractal-group, weight:@seventyOne'Kilos, Xeon, ZRX0, ZRX4"
result: "weight:@seventyOne'Kilos"

The result am looking for is "@seventyOne'Kilos".

Yes. Move the parenthesis of the second group to where you want.

I suggest that you do some experimentation with patterns to see how they work.

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by chaley

Yes. Move the parenthesis of the second group to where you want.

I suggest that you do some experimentation with patterns to see how they work.

Thank you very much. These work just like I wanted, much appriciated for your help.

^(.*?, *|)weight:(.+?|)(,.*?|)$
\2

then

^(.*?, *|)(weight:.+?|)(,.*?|)$
\1\3