replace a textblock in multiple files

replace a textblock in multiple files

[C.Strobl]

hello all,
only a short and simple question: whats the best way to replace a
textblock in multiple files.
thanks and i hope the question is not to easy
christian

Re: replace a textblock in multiple files

[Benjamin Rutt]

<C.Strobl@dlr.de> writes:

> hello all,
> only a short and simple question: whats the best way to replace a
> textblock in multiple files.
> thanks and i hope the question is not to easy
> christian

M-x dired

mark desired files with 'm'

Q
-- 
Benjamin Rutt

AW: replace a textblock in multiple files

[C.Strobl]

thanks, but maybe my question was too short. 

1) i want to work on several subdirectories, not only in one directory
2) i want to replace blocks consisting of more than one line.

is that possible at all

tanks again
christian

p.s. i know it's always possible with programming elisp. but i want to know if it's possible with simple emacs commands? 

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+c.strobl=dlr.de@gnu.org 
> [mailto:help-gnu-emacs-bounces+c.strobl=dlr.de@gnu.org] Im 
> Auftrag von Benjamin Rutt
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 26. September 2006 02:52
> An: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Betreff: Re: replace a textblock in multiple files
> 
> <C.Strobl@dlr.de> writes:
> 
> > hello all,
> > only a short and simple question: whats the best way to replace a 
> > textblock in multiple files.
> > thanks and i hope the question is not to easy christian
> 
> M-x dired
> 
> mark desired files with 'm'
> 
> Q
> --
> Benjamin Rutt
> _______________________________________________
> help-gnu-emacs mailing list
> help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs
> 

regexp question

[C.Strobl]

hello all,

 i want to replace a block beginning with <column_right> and ending with
</column_right>, with a variable number of lines between with another
text block. is that possible with regular expressions and if yes, how?
i don't know how to find an optional number of complete lines.

how can i find this text block with a regular expression?


	<column_right>
		<!-- background attribute options: black, white, grey,
blue, red, green, orange -->
		<feature_block background="orange">
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_image
height="1">spacer_grey.gif</feature_image>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_image
type="intern">projects/gitews/logo_175.gif</feature_image>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_image
height="1">spacer_grey.gif</feature_image>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_text>Work Package 4100</feature_text>
			<feature_text>provided by XYZ</feature_text>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_image
height="5">spacer_grey.gif</feature_image>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_header>Contact:</feature_header>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
			<feature_text></feature_text>
		</feature_block>
	</column_right>


christian

Re: regexp question

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 26.09.2006 um 14:09 schrieb <C.Strobl@dlr.de>:

> how can i find this text block with a regular expression?

<column_right>[-_	 !",./0-9:<=>A-Za-z
]*</column_right>

- has to come first, _ is just close, then come SPACE and TAB, ...,  
and finally a newline, C-q C-j.

To determine the characters in the region do this shell-command-on- 
region:

	sed -e 's/\(.\)/\1·/g' | tr '·' '\012' | sort -u


--
Greetings

   Pete

"I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but  
they've always worked for me."
                                           -- Hunter S. Thompson

RE: replace a textblock in multiple files

[Jay Bingham]

On Tuesday, September 26, 2006 6:18 AM Christian wrote:

> 1) i want to work on several subdirectories, not only in one
>    directory
> 2) i want to replace blocks consisting of more
>    than one line.

> is that possible at all

> p.s. i know it's always possible with programming elisp. but
> i want to know if it's possible with simple emacs commands

Yes, it can be done.  You did not say which version of Emacs you are 
running, that might make a difference.  That said here is how I would 
do it if I were running version 21.3.

Load the ibuffer.el package, load the dired-x.el package.
The ibuffer.el package is available from: 
www.shootybangbang.com/software/ibuffer.el
The dired-x.el package is a part of Emacs but must be explicitly 
loaded/enabled in your .emacs.

Once you have these to packages active you can use the % g dired 
command to locate the files that contain block of text you want to 
replace.  Then you can use the C-u F dired command to load the files.
Once the files are loaded invoke ibuffer and use the / c command to 
limit the view to files containing the block of text.  Then use the t 
command to mark all the files.  Finally use the U command to replace 
the block of text defined by a regular expression with the new text.

There may be other ways to do this, but this is the easiest way that 
I know of using simple emacs commands.

Good Luck,
__
J_)
C_)ingham 


_____________________________________________________________________
PrivatePhone - FREE telephone number & voicemail.
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Re: regexp question

[Florian Kaufmann]

>  i want to replace a block beginning with <column_right> and ending with
> </column_right>, with a variable number of lines between with another
> text block. ext block with a regular expression?

I would use:

<column_right>\(.\|^J\)*?</column_right>

Where the ^J results from pressing C-q C-j.

The details: Since the dot . does much any character but the newline, I
use the construct \(.\|^J\) which now matches really any character. *?
is the lazy version of the greedy *. Meaning that as few as possible
are selected. This prevents from selecting too much. Only * instead of
*? would much both of the following lines instead of only one.

<column_right>line1</column_right>
<column_right>line2</column_right>

However, my regex fails to match nested tags. In the following example
<column_right><column_right></column_right></column_right>

the match is
<column_right><column_right></column_right>

which is not what you want. I don't know how to make a regular
expression which would also support this case. I'm sure you would find
the answer in the book "Mastering regular expressions"

Flo

Re: regexp question

[Dieter Wilhelm]

Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> writes:

> Am 26.09.2006 um 14:09 schrieb <C.Strobl@dlr.de>:
>
>> how can i find this text block with a regular expression?
>
> <column_right>[-_	 !",./0-9:<=>A-Za-z
> ]*</column_right>
>
> - has to come first, _ is just close, then come SPACE and TAB, ...,
> and finally a newline, C-q C-j.
>
> To determine the characters in the region do this shell-command-on- 
> region:
>
> 	sed -e 's/\(.\)/\1·/g' | tr '·' '\012' | sort -u
                          ^

I assume above construct is necessary for (older) UNIX systems?  I
tried:

  sed -e 's/\(.\)/\1\n/g | sort -u

which is working on my Gnu/Linux system.

-- 
    Best wishes

    H. Dieter Wilhelm
    Darmstadt, Germany

Re: regexp question

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 30.09.2006 um 00:03 schrieb Dieter Wilhelm:

>   sed -e 's/\(.\)/\1\n/g | sort -u
>
> which is working on my Gnu/Linux system.

Your shell is faulty. A quoted sequence has to start and to end.

\n does not seem to work for me ...


Anyway, Florian Kaufmann's \(.\|^J\)*? is the optimal expression: it  
does not need a contents analysis.

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

   Pete       (:
         _    / __    -    -
       _/ \__/_/        -     -
      (´`)      (´`)   -    -
       `´        `´