[Cialug] Regular Expression Search & Replace Problem

[Adam Hill]

Multi-line regex are always a pain.  There's probably some linux one liner
that would implement the logic to do this but it'd be more readable in
something like python.

On Wed, Jan 3, 2018 at 1:55 PM Todd Walton <tdwalton at gmail.com> wrote:

> If I had a text file loaded in an editor with PCRE regular expression
> matching, how would I search & replace this:
>
>     Mr.
>           John Williams
>           Dan Kathney
>           Elmo Tickled
>
>     Ms.
>           Linda Tenner
>           Sam Renkl
>           Matilda Geunse
>
>     Dr.
>           Andy Hathaway
>           Diane Seaton
>           Fran Francis
>
> into this?:
>
>     Mr.      John Williams
>     Mr.      Dan Kathney
>     Mr.      Elmo Tickled
>
>     Ms.      Linda Tenner
>     Ms.      Sam Renkl
>     Ms.      Matilda Geunse
>
>     Dr.      Andy Hathaway
>     Dr.      Diane Seaton
>     Dr.      Fran Francis
>
> Note, those are all spaces, and all indents are the same number of spaces.
> Also, I don't care about the spacing in the output, just that the titles
> end up on the same line as the names.
>
> So if, say, the indents are four and eight spaces, then something like "if
> four spaces followed by <title> followed by newline followed by eight
> spaces and a <name> then newline, replace it all with <title> space <name>
> newline". But you'd have to take account of the multiple name lines below
> each title line. Maybe match "four spaces <title> newline eight spaces
> <name> newline eight spaces <name> newline eight spaces <name> newline,
> replace each occurrence of eight spaces in the match with the <title>".
>
> Or something.
>
> -Todd
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