Specific character in specific position

[gcotterl]

How do I find rows containing an 'x' in position 53?

[Bob Hansen]

Click on Search/Find
Search for: ^.{52}x
Click on Mark All

Be sure to have check in Regular Expressions and POSIX is on.

Note, would like to let you know that there is now a separate Forum for Regular Expressions. That is where this type of question should be posted in the future.

[hillsc]

True, but if someone doesn't know the solution to their problem involves the use of regex's, what would make them think to post there?

[Bob Hansen]

Got me!

But that person will probably know to do that now.....

[ACRobin]

Just for information and giving an alternative method:

If you put TP in "Block" mode
go to column 52 on the first row
Select one character (Shift + right arrow)
Select the whole column (Shift + CTRL + End)
Bring up the "Find" dialogue box
Type in "x" and you will notice that is says it search "Selected Text Only"

I tend to select "Book Mark lines" in the Find dialogue which allows later to "Copy Booked Marked Lines" if I am producing an extract file.

I must get a REGEX book, but at the moment as I have used the editor for such a long time, I can get by.

[gcotterl]

In the "Search for" box, ^.{52}x will find rows containing an 'x' in position 53:

How do I find rows containing a special character -- like a period or a comma -- in position 53?

[ben_josephs]

There's nothing special about a comma in regular expression search and replace. To search for a full stop when using regular expressions either escape it: \. or put it in a character class: [.]. So:
^.{52}\.
or
^.{52}[.]
.

[Bob Hansen]

Replace the x with the character you are looking for.

You may need to use "\" for some special RegEx characters. See the Help section on Regular Expressions.

[gcotterl]

I originally tried

^.{52}.

but it bookmarked EVERY row.



Per your suggestion, I tried

^.{52}\.

and it bookmarked only the rows with a period in position 53.

Thanks.

[bveldkamp]

Yeah, a single . means "any character" whereas \. means a literal .