Stumped over this one

[terrypin]

I've been trying various regex expressions but so far in vain.

How do I change lines like this:
/*Set volume to 20*/

to this:
// Set volume to 20

IOW replace '/*' by '// ' (note the space), and delete '*/'

[ben_josephs]

Find what: ^/\*(.*)\*/
Replace with: // $1

[terrypin]

Thanks! Saw your impressively fast reply as I was coming back to proudly present the solution I came up with:

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Find what: (/*)(.*)(*/)
  Replace with: // 2

Seemed to work on first tests. Does that look reliable?

[ben_josephs]

There's a bug in the current version of the software that runs these forums. Single backslashes in posts get swallowed, so you have to double them. Your example should look like this:

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Find what: (/\*)(.*)(\*/)
Replace with: // \2

Yes, that works. But the first and third pairs of parentheses unnecessarily capture text that is discarded. Also, unlike the version I gave, it captures comments that aren't at the beginning of a line.

And in a TextPad replacement expression \2 means the same as $2 .

[terrypin]

Indeed, quite a bug for discussions about regex! Particularly cases like this. Never spotted that before, thanks.

In fact my target strings can also occur anywhere in a line. I'll remember to add that spec here in future.

[ben_josephs]

If the original comments can occur anywhere in a line, perhaps followed by further text on the same line, then the replacement will change

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/* Unhelpful comment */  doEssentialThing () ;

to

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//  Unhelpful comment   doEssentialThing () ;

which is plainly wrong.

What spec?

[AmigoJack]

How about lines that have multiple comments? Such as:

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if( /*bOne and bTwo and*/ bThree /*and bFour*/ ) {

Also all regex patterns also match empty comments and I just cannot imagine any code that ever makes use of such. Let alone the void sense of turning that into another comment:

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/**/