NEED HELP GETTING STARTED W/TEXTPAD

Susan M. Douthart · Post by **Susan M. Douthart** » Thu May 14, 2009 6:53 pm

Hello, I just started using TextPad and it's a remarkable tool. Would someone please recommend some tutorial materials I can obtain to help me learn this a little faster. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around writing expressions: grouping, etc. Thank you so much! SMD

ak47wong · Post by **ak47wong** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:13 pm

Hi Susan, are you talking about regular expressions specifically? Regular-Expressions.info has some introductory material including a tutorial. There's also Wikipedia. Is that the sort of thing you were after?

Andrew

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:05 am

For Regular Expressions, I highly recommend Mastering Regular Expressions, 3rd Edition by Jeffrey Friedl. O'Reilly Publisher.

But, no matter what you use as a tutorial/source, you should understand that TextPad's "version" of RegEx is somewhat limited in a number of areas. But those areas that are supported work excellently.

Be sure to read the Help section on Using Regular Expressions. And browse through the postings in the Regular Expressions forum here, some great examples. Look for solutions by ben_josephs, our resident TextPad RegEx master.

Susan M. Douthart · Post by **Susan M. Douthart** » Fri May 15, 2009 1:13 pm

Bob, LOVE your avatar & thanks for the help. I'll check out some of benjoseph's examples on this site. ak47wong, I used your link and found a wealth of information on that site; thanks so much. I've already written a couple expressions to sort a textpad document into columns to import into a spreadsheet. I have 7 more to go and they're huge documents. I am amazed at how versatile this tool is. For my needs, it's perfect. Thanks so much. One day I hope to be a benjosephs master, too. Enjoy your weekend. SMD

talleyrand · Post by **talleyrand** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:05 pm

As a minor correction, you'll have much more luck searching for an author of ben_josephs

http://forums.textpad.com/search.php?se ... en_josephs

Susan M. Douthart · Post by **Susan M. Douthart** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:08 pm

Oops, Talleyrand, thanks! That'll certainly make my searching a little easier. (':D') Good luck with those angry cats!

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Fri May 15, 2009 11:03 pm

Thanks, and apologies to ben_josephs. I have corrected my original posting.

ben_josephs · Post by **ben_josephs** » Sat May 16, 2009 10:04 pm

No apology required.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad to be of service.