Find Replace from Textfile with regex

Question

Hello.
I'm wondering if anyone knows about an existing script that does a find/replace by list like the script "FindChangeByList.jsx" that comes with every InDesign installation.
This consists of tow parts, the script itself with the functionality and a simple textfile where you have simple one-liners capable of find/replace with regex.
the Textfile:
//FindChangeList.txt
//A support file for the InDesign CS4 JavaScript FindChangeByList.jsx
//This data file is tab-delimited, with carriage returns separating records.
//The format of each record in the file is:
//findType<tab>findProperties<tab>changeProperties<tab>findChangeOptions<tab>description
//Where:
//<tab> is a tab character
//findType is "text", "grep", or "glyph" (this sets the type of find/change operation to use).
//findProperties is a properties record (as text) of the find preferences.
//changeProperties is a properties record (as text) of the change preferences.
//findChangeOptions is a properties record (as text) of the find/change options.
//description is a description of the find/change operation
//Very simple example:
//text          {findWhat:"--"}          {changeTo:"^_"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all double dashes and replace with an em dash.
//More complex example:
//text          {findWhat:"^9^9.^9^9"}          {appliedCharacterStyle:"price"}          {include footnotes:true, include master pages:true, include hidden layers:true, whole word:false}          Find $10.00 to $99.99 and apply the character style "price".
//All InDesign search metacharacters are allowed in the "findWhat" and "changeTo" properties for findTextPreferences and changeTextPreferences.
//If you enter backslashes in the findWhat property of the findGrepPreferences object, they must be "escaped"
//as shown in the example below:
//{findWhat:"\\s+"}
grep          {findWhat:"  +"}          {changeTo:" "}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all double spaces and replace with single spaces.
grep          {findWhat:"\r "}          {changeTo:"\r"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all returns followed by a space And replace with single returns.
grep          {findWhat:" \r"}          {changeTo:"\r"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all returns followed by a space and replace with single returns.
grep          {findWhat:"\t\t+"}          {changeTo:"\t"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all double tab characters and replace with single tab characters.
grep          {findWhat:"\r\t"}          {changeTo:"\r"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all returns followed by a tab character and replace with single returns.
grep          {findWhat:"\t\r"}          {changeTo:"\r"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all returns followed by a tab character and replace with single returns.
grep          {findWhat:"\r\r+"}          {changeTo:"\r"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all double returns and replace with single returns.
text          {findWhat:" - "}          {changeTo:"^="}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all space-dash-space and replace with an en dash.
text          {findWhat:"--"}          {changeTo:"^_"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all dash-dash and replace with an em dash.
The script:
//FindChangeByList.jsx
//An InDesign CS5.5 JavaScript
@@@BUILDINFO@@@ "FindChangeByList.jsx" 3.0.0 15 December 2009
//Loads a series of tab-delimited strings from a text file, then performs a series
//of find/change operations based on the strings read from the file.
//The data file is tab-delimited, with carriage returns separating records.
//The format of each record in the file is:
//findType<tab>findProperties<tab>changeProperties<tab>findChangeOptions<tab>description
//Where:
//<tab> is a tab character
//findType is "text", "grep", or "glyph" (this sets the type of find/change operation to use).
//findProperties is a properties record (as text) of the find preferences.
//changeProperties is a properties record (as text) of the change preferences.
//findChangeOptions is a properties record (as text) of the find/change options.
//description is a description of the find/change operation
//Very simple example:
//text          {findWhat:"--"}          {changeTo:"^_"}          {includeFootnotes:true, includeMasterPages:true, includeHiddenLayers:true, wholeWord:false}          Find all double dashes and replace with an em dash.
//More complex example:
//text          {findWhat:"^9^9.^9^9"}          {appliedCharacterStyle:"price"}          {include footnotes:true, include master pages:true, include hidden layers:true, whole word:false}          Find $10.00 to $99.99 and apply the character style "price".
//All InDesign search metacharacters are allowed in the "findWhat" and "changeTo" properties for findTextPreferences and changeTextPreferences.
//If you enter backslashes in the findWhat property of the findGrepPreferences object, they must be "escaped"
//as shown in the example below:
//{findWhat:"\\s+"}
//For more on InDesign scripting, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/scripting/index.html
//or visit the InDesign Scripting User to User forum at http://www.adobeforums.com
main();
function main(){
          var myObject;
          //Make certain that user interaction (display of dialogs, etc.) is turned on.
          app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
          if(app.documents.length > 0){
                    if(app.selection.length > 0){
                              switch(app.selection[0].constructor.name){
                                        case "InsertionPoint":
                                        case "Character":
                                        case "Word":
                                        case "TextStyleRange":
                                        case "Line":
                                        case "Paragraph":
                                        case "TextColumn":
                                        case "Text":
                                        case "Cell":
                                        case "Column":
                                        case "Row":
                                        case "Table":
                                                  myDisplayDialog();
                                                  break;
                                        default:
                                                  //Something was selected, but it wasn't a text object, so search the document.
                                                  myFindChangeByList(app.documents.item(0));
                    else{
                              //Nothing was selected, so simply search the document.
                              myFindChangeByList(app.documents.item(0));
          else{
                    alert("No documents are open. Please open a document and try again.");
function myDisplayDialog(){
          var myObject;
          var myDialog = app.dialogs.add({name:"FindChangeByList"});
          with(myDialog.dialogColumns.add()){
                    with(dialogRows.add()){
                              with(dialogColumns.add()){
                                        staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Search Range:"});
                              var myRangeButtons = radiobuttonGroups.add();
                              with(myRangeButtons){
                                        radiobuttonControls.add({staticLabel:"Document", checkedState:true});
                                        radiobuttonControls.add({staticLabel:"Selected Story"});
                                        if(app.selection[0].contents != ""){
                                                  radiobuttonControls.add({staticLabel:"Selection", checkedState:true});
          var myResult = myDialog.show();
          if(myResult == true){
                    switch(myRangeButtons.selectedButton){
                              case 0:
                                        myObject = app.documents.item(0);
                                        break;
                              case 1:
                                        myObject = app.selection[0].parentStory;
                                        break;
                              case 2:
                                        myObject = app.selection[0];
                                        break;
                    myDialog.destroy();
                    myFindChangeByList(myObject);
          else{
                    myDialog.destroy();
function myFindChangeByList(myObject){
          var myScriptFileName, myFindChangeFile, myFindChangeFileName, myScriptFile, myResult;
          var myFindChangeArray, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindLimit, myStory;
          var myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter;
          var myFindChangeFile = myFindFile("/FindChangeSupport/FindChangeList.txt")
          if(myFindChangeFile != null){
                    myFindChangeFile = File(myFindChangeFile);
                    var myResult = myFindChangeFile.open("r", undefined, undefined);
                    if(myResult == true){
                              //Loop through the find/change operations.
                              do{
                                        myLine = myFindChangeFile.readln();
                                        //Ignore comment lines and blank lines.
                                        if((myLine.substring(0,4)=="text")||(myLine.substring(0,4)=="grep")|| (myLine.substring(0,5)=="glyph")){
                                                  myFindChangeArray = myLine.split("\t");
                                                  //The first field in the line is the findType string.
                                                  myFindType = myFindChangeArray[0];
                                                  //The second field in the line is the FindPreferences string.
                                                  myFindPreferences = myFindChangeArray[1];
                                                  //The second field in the line is the ChangePreferences string.
                                                  myChangePreferences = myFindChangeArray[2];
                                                  //The fourth field is the range--used only by text find/change.
                                                  myFindChangeOptions = myFindChangeArray[3];
                                                  switch(myFindType){
                                                            case "text":
                                                                      myFindText(myObject, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindChangeOptions);
                                                                      break;
                                                            case "grep":
                                                                      myFindGrep(myObject, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindChangeOptions);
                                                                      break;
                                                            case "glyph":
                                                                      myFindGlyph(myObject, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindChangeOptions);
                                                                      break;
                              } while(myFindChangeFile.eof == false);
                              myFindChangeFile.close();
function myFindText(myObject, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindChangeOptions){
          //Reset the find/change preferences before each search.
          app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          var myString = "app.findTextPreferences.properties = "+ myFindPreferences + ";";
          myString += "app.changeTextPreferences.properties = " + myChangePreferences + ";";
          myString += "app.findChangeTextOptions.properties = " + myFindChangeOptions + ";";
          app.doScript(myString, ScriptLanguage.javascript);
          myFoundItems = myObject.changeText();
          //Reset the find/change preferences after each search.
          app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
function myFindGrep(myObject, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindChangeOptions){
          //Reset the find/change grep preferences before each search.
          app.changeGrepPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          app.findGrepPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          var myString = "app.findGrepPreferences.properties = "+ myFindPreferences + ";";
          myString += "app.changeGrepPreferences.properties = " + myChangePreferences + ";";
          myString += "app.findChangeGrepOptions.properties = " + myFindChangeOptions + ";";
          app.doScript(myString, ScriptLanguage.javascript);
          var myFoundItems = myObject.changeGrep();
          //Reset the find/change grep preferences after each search.
          app.changeGrepPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          app.findGrepPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
function myFindGlyph(myObject, myFindPreferences, myChangePreferences, myFindChangeOptions){
          //Reset the find/change glyph preferences before each search.
          app.changeGlyphPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          app.findGlyphPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          var myString = "app.findGlyphPreferences.properties = "+ myFindPreferences + ";";
          myString += "app.changeGlyphPreferences.properties = " + myChangePreferences + ";";
          myString += "app.findChangeGlyphOptions.properties = " + myFindChangeOptions + ";";
          app.doScript(myString, ScriptLanguage.javascript);
          var myFoundItems = myObject.changeGlyph();
          //Reset the find/change glyph preferences after each search.
          app.changeGlyphPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
          app.findGlyphPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
function myFindFile(myFilePath){
          var myScriptFile = myGetScriptPath();
          var myScriptFile = File(myScriptFile);
          var myScriptFolder = myScriptFile.path;
          myFilePath = myScriptFolder + myFilePath;
          if(File(myFilePath).exists == false){
                    //Display a dialog.
                    myFilePath = File.openDialog("Choose the file containing your find/change list");
          return myFilePath;
function myGetScriptPath(){
          try{
                    myFile = app.activeScript;
          catch(myError){
                    myFile = myError.fileName;
          return myFile;
This is a very useful and easy to maintain script which even people who cant write scripts (but know how to use regex) can do complex search replace mass replacements.
Would love to find something like this for FrameMaker 12 (as i can't write scripts myself).
regards
daniel

Answer 1

I have visited that site. The first item in the external link says: "You can also configure Firefox to automatically search for text when you type any characters outside of a text field. When typing in a text field these characters should show up in the text field and not trigger the Quick Find bar. "
What I am looking for is the exact opposite. Once my first search is entered in the text box, and the info comes back, I want to start typing the next symbol, and have it automatically show up in the text box, not the Quick Find box. That is how it was working up until a couple of months ago.