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I want to delete the duplicate file names (always JPG). They occur in every group, always the first and last entries. And I want the remaining filename to be followed by a tab and then the descriptive text.

So for example I want this:

20030820-113000-TP01.jpg
Shortly after leaving Kemble station, on the way to Thames Head, the recognised Thames source.
20030820-113000-TP01.jpg

20030820-120300-TP03-43.jpg
Wed 20th Aug 2003. At the source.
20030820-120300-TP03-43.jpg

20030820-120000-TP02.jpg
At the dry source, Wed 20th August 2003.
Here's another line to screw things up.
20030820-120000-TP02.jpg

20030820-120300-TP03.jpg
Source
20030820-120300-TP03.jpg

to become this:

20030820-113000-TP01.jpg Shortly after leaving Kemble station, on the way to Thames Head, the recognised Thames source.

20030820-120300-TP03-43.jpg Wed 20th Aug 2003. At the source.

20030820-120000-TP02.jpg At the dry source, Wed 20th August 2003. Here's another line to screw things up.

20030820-120300-TP03.jpg Source

I see my tabs have not been replicated here. This is what that example looks like in TextPad:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/TextPad-RE-1.jpg


So far my attempts have failed. Is it possible in TextPad please?

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Here's one way to do it. First enable POSIX regular expression syntax in Configure > Preferences > Editor.

Step 1: Collapse each group into a single tab-separated line
Find what: (.)\n(.)
Replace with: \1\t\2

Step 2: Delete the final tab and file name from each line
Find what: (.*)\t.*
Replace with: \1

Step 3: If necessary, fix the tab before the extra "line to screw things up"
Find what: ([^\t]*\t)(.*)\t(.*)
Replace with: \1\2_\3 [replace the underscore with a space]

I'd already typed this, so I might as well post it, to show a very similar, but slightly different, approach.

1. Delete the filename at the end of each group:

Find what: .*\.jpg\n\n
Replace with: \n

2. Replace the newline following each filename with a tab:

Find what: \.jpg\n
Replace with: .jpg\t

3. Join the lines of each group:

Find what: (.)\n(.)
Replace with: \1 \2

Thanks both, much appreciate the fast responses.

Both work a treat. I was scratching my head over the failure of the third step in each - until I remembered this setting!



--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK