Find and Replace text in files

Is there a function that will find and replace a word in a few text files at once. E.G replace the word database1 with database2 without going into each script individually and doing and search and replace.

Andrew, you are being so cruel, hardnuts indeed ;)
I won't mention any names, but at least it's not as cruel as some people saying “You may read DBMS_STATS package specification, at least, to get details, if you're too lazy to read manuals.”
Personally I prefer to use a development tool (TOAD, Pl/Sql Developer) instead of a Text type editor.

Similar Messages

Use VBA and Excel to open Dreamweaver HTML (CS5), find and replace text, save and close

I wish to use VBA and Excel to programmatically open numbered Dreamweaver HTML (CS5) and find and replace text in the code view of these files, save and close them.
I have 5000 associations between Find: x0001 and Replace: y0001 in an Excel sheet.
I have the VBA written but do not know how to open, close and save the code view of the ####.html files. Please ... and thank you...
[email protected]

This is actually the code view of file ####.html that I wish to find and replace programmatically where #### is a four digit number cataloguing each painting.... In 1995 I thought this was clever... maybe not so clever now :>)) Thank you for whatever you can do Rob!
!####.jpg!
h2. "Name####"
Oils on acrylic foundation commercial canvas - . xx X xx (inches) Started
Back of the Painting In Progress </p> </body> </html>
Warmest regards,
Phil the Forecaster, http://philtheforecaster.blogspot.ca/ and http://phils-market.blogspot.ca/

Folder action to find and replace text and change line feeds

I want to use a folder action to find and replace text and change Mac carriage returns to DOS line feeds inside text files.
The text to be replaced is: "/Users/wim/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music" (without the quotes)
This text has to be removed (i.e. replaced by an empty string)
The text occurs many times within each file.
The files are playlists exported from iTunes in the M3U format (which are text files). They contain Mac carriage returns. These need to be changed to DOS line feeds.
I have found the following two perl commands to achieve this:
To find and replace text: perl -pi -w -e 's/THIS/THAT/g;' *.txt
To change carriage returns to line feeds: perl -i -pe 's/\015/\015\012/g' mac-file
I know that it's possible to make a folder action with Automator that executes a shell script.
What I want to do is drop the exported playlists in M3U format in a folder so that the folder action will remove the right text and change the carriage returns.
My questions are:
Is it possible to make a folder action that executes command line commands instead of shell scripts?
What is the correct syntax for the two commands when used in a folder action shell script? Especially, how do I escape the slashes (/) in the string to be removed?
Thanks for your help

Ok, I've include an applescript to run a shell command. The applesript command quoted form makes a string that will end up as a single string on the bash command line. Depending on what you want to do, you may need multiple string on the bash command lines. I've included some information on folder actions.
It is easier to diagnose problems with debug information. I suggest adding log statements to your script to see what is going on. Here is an example.
    Author: rccharles
    For testing, run in the Script Editor.
      1) Click on the Event Log tab to see the output from the log statement
      2) Click on Run
    For running shell commands see:
    http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/technotes/tn2002/tn2065.html
on run
    -- Write a message into the event log.
    log " --- Starting on " & ((current date) as string) & " --- "
    -- debug lines
    set desktopPath to (path to desktop) as string
    log "desktopPath = " & desktopPath
    set unixDesktopPath to POSIX path of desktopPath
    log "unixDesktopPath = " & unixDesktopPath
    set quotedUnixDesktopPath to quoted form of unixDesktopPath
    log "quoted form is " & quotedUnixDesktopPath
    try
        set fromUnix to do shell script "ls -l " & quotedUnixDesktopPath
        display dialog "ls -l of " & quotedUnixDesktopPath & return & fromUnix
    on error errMsg
        log "ls -l error..." & errMsg
    end try
end run
How to set up a folder action.
1) right click on folder. click on Enable folder actions
2) Place script in
/Library/Scripts/Folder Actions Scripts
3) right click on folder. click on attach folder action
pick your script.
Create a new folder on the desktop & try.
You can put multiple folder actions on a folder. There are other ways of doing this.
Here is my test script:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving dropped_items
    repeat with dropped_item_ref in dropped_items
       display dialog "dropped files is " & dropped_item_ref & " on folder " & this_folder
    end repeat
end adding folder items to
How to make the text into an AppleScript program.
Start the AppleScript Editor
/Applications/AppleScript/Script Editor.app
In Snow Leopard it's at: /Applications/Utilities/AppleScript Editor
Copy the script text to the Applescript editor.
Note: The ¬ is typed as option+return. ption+return is the Applescript line continuation characters.
You may need to retype these characters.
Save the text to a file as an script and do not check any of the boxes below.

Find and Replace text string in HTML

Opps... I hope this forum is not just for Outlook. My Html files reside on my hard-drive. I am looking for VBA code to open specified file names ####File.html and then find and replace text strings within the html for example "####Name" replaced
with "YYYYY"
I drive the "####File.html" names and the find and replace text strings from an Excel sheet. I am an artist and this Sub would give me time to paint instead of find and replace text. Thank you!
[email protected]

Hello Phil,
The current forum is for developers and Outlook related programming questions. That's why I'd suggest hiring anybody for developing the code for you. You may find freelancers, for example. Try googling for any freelance-related web sites and asking such
questions there.
If you decide to develop an Outlook macro on your own, the
Getting Started with VBA in Outlook 2010 article is a good place to start from.

Find and replace string in file

hi,
i need to find and replace text (string) data in about 100+ files, i've decided to write a small java program to do it but i'm stuck on how to replace.
here is what i'm heading towards:
class ReplaceString {
BufferedReader in;
BufferedReader os;
public static void main(String args[]) {
    ReplaceString obj = new ReplaceString();
    obj.replace();
   void replace() {
     try {
       in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("a.txt");
       os = new BufferdWriter(new FileWriter("a.txt");
       // read until end of file
       String currentLine = new String();
       while((currenLine=is.readLine()) != null) {
         // if matching text then replace????
         if(currentLine.equals("Version 001") {
            // how to now replace the Version 001 with Version 002???
     }catch(IOException e) {
        System.out.println(e);
        in.close();
        os.close();
     in.close();
     os.close();
}the above code i just typed so there might be errors, but looks ok to me, is there any way once i find the string i want to replace, to replace the string with another string. basically i want to replace all occurrences of the text "Version 001" with "Version 002"
Thank you.

Is it always true, as in your example, that the replacement is the same length as the existing string? If so, this one's easy.
Is it also true that you don't need to worry about 16-bit chars? (Again, as in your example.) If you're using just ASCII characters, this gets easier still.
1) Segregate the file I/O from the search/replace process.
2) Main becomes:
readFile();
replace( "this", "that" );
writeFile();Use a byte array buffer, defined in your main class. Fill it via the readFile() code. Use a RandomAccessFile, check its length() to allocate your byte array, then do a single read() to fill the buffer.
A brute force search will certainly work: scan for the first search character, then check the rest for a match, replace if you've got a match and continue scanning. Alternative if your file's aren't too big: create a String from the byte array:
// buffer is a byte array
String s = new String( buffer );And use the String.replaceAll() to do the search/replace. Recover the buffer with:
buffer = string.getBytes();A single write() and close() should handle the remaining work.

Can I do a find and replace on .cfm files only and not search .html or .txt?

Hi. I'm using Dreamweaver CS4. I would like to do a find and replace through my site with Dreamweaver but I only want it to search through .cfm files. Currently it is searching through .html and .txt files along with .cfm. Is there a way to do a find and replace on just .cfm files?
- Tom

You can't do it on just one type of file. However, you can do find and replace in selected files. Ctrl-click to select the targeted files in the Files panel, and then choose Selected Files in Site from the Find In drop-down.

Find and replace text in multiple Photoshop files?

Hi there,
Let us say I have six Photoshop files: 1.psd, 2.psd, ..., 6.psd. All of these files contain the word “LoremIpsum” in random text layers, within each document. Is there a way I can search for “LoremIpsum” in all documents and replace it with “Dolor Sit Amet”, all in one go? This is just an example, I need to replace various words, not just one.
I have tried "batch find and replace" software (including powerful tools like Power Grep) but they do not work with psd files… Is there a javascript of external plugin for this kind of task?
Thanks!

You’re welcome, advice given here is free.
If you want to donate something nonetheless you could do so over at
http://ps-scripts.com/bb/
Many of the same people used to contribute there as here and I for one have benefitted considerably from their generous advice on Scripting issues.
A Script can read (or create) txt files, but I do not have a lot of experience with this.
This might work (amend the line »var theTexts = readPref ("….txt", false);« according to your txt-file’s path):
// replace text elements in type layers;
// 2013, use it at your own risk;
#target photoshop
if (app.documents.length > 0) {
          for (var n = 0; n < app.documents.length; n++) {
                    app.activeDocument = app.documents[n];
                    app.activeDocument.suspendHistory("replace text", "main()")
// the opertation;
function main () {
          var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
          var theTexts = readPref ("….txt", false);
          var theArray1 = theTexts.slice(0, Math.round(theTexts.length/2));
          var theArray2 = theTexts.slice(Math.round(theTexts.length/2), theTexts.length);
          alert (theArray1.join("\n")+"\n\n\n"+theArray2.join("\n"))
          for (var b = 0; b < theArray1.length; b++) {
                    replaceText (theArray1[b], theArray2[b])
////// reoplace text //////
function replaceText (replaceThis, replaceWith) {
// =======================================================
var idreplace = stringIDToTypeID( "replace" );
    var desc22 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var idnull = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
        var ref3 = new ActionReference();
        var idPrpr = charIDToTypeID( "Prpr" );
        var idreplace = stringIDToTypeID( "replace" );
        ref3.putProperty( idPrpr, idreplace );
        var idTxLr = charIDToTypeID( "TxLr" );
        var idOrdn = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
        var idAl = charIDToTypeID( "Al " );
        ref3.putEnumerated( idTxLr, idOrdn, idAl );
    desc22.putReference( idnull, ref3 );
    var idUsng = charIDToTypeID( "Usng" );
        var desc23 = new ActionDescriptor();
        var idfind = stringIDToTypeID( "find" );
        desc23.putString( idfind, replaceThis );
        var idreplace = stringIDToTypeID( "replace" );
        desc23.putString( idreplace, replaceWith );
        var idcheckAll = stringIDToTypeID( "checkAll" );
        desc23.putBoolean( idcheckAll, true );
        var idFwd = charIDToTypeID( "Fwd " );
        desc23.putBoolean( idFwd, true );
        var idcaseSensitive = stringIDToTypeID( "caseSensitive" );
        desc23.putBoolean( idcaseSensitive, false );
        var idwholeWord = stringIDToTypeID( "wholeWord" );
        desc23.putBoolean( idwholeWord, false );
        var idignoreAccents = stringIDToTypeID( "ignoreAccents" );
        desc23.putBoolean( idignoreAccents, true );
    var idfindReplace = stringIDToTypeID( "findReplace" );
    desc22.putObject( idUsng, idfindReplace, desc23 );
executeAction( idreplace, desc22, DialogModes.NO );
////// read prefs file //////
function readPref (thePath, binary) {
if (File(thePath).exists == true) {
    var file = File(thePath);
    file.open("r");
    if (binary == true) {file.encoding= 'BINARY'};
    var theText = file.read();
    file.close();
    return String(theText).split(",")
In this case the comma is used to split the text into Strings in Arrays, if your search/replace texts include commas you could use something else, I guess.

How do I find and replace text in PHP files?

How can I in CS3 make sitewide changes to the text in PHP pages without changing variable names etc that have the same name?
For example if I have an installation of a PHP forum and I want to change every instance of the word 'forum' to 'message board'...
If I used the 'inside tag' search with " as the tag, then if "" contained a variable called 'forum' it would also be changed and therefore corrupt the code....
Is there a simple way around this?
Thanks!
I'm using CS3 on Windows Vista.

It looks like you're trying to find and replace source code, so you may be able to look at the various places that are looked at when finding and uncheck the ones that don't apply.
But, if it's all source code then that won't help. One thing that may work is to expand the search option - for example if the work "forum" that you're wanting to change it preceded by another word, or character or something that sets it apart, then do you find on that. You can expand that search phrase as far out in either direction that you need to to make it different, if of course that is practical in your situation.
The only other way I can think of is to somehow create an exception rule, but I'm not sure if that's possible or how to do it.

[Forum FAQ] How to find and replace text strings in the shapes in Excel using Windows PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is a powerful command tool and we can use it for management and operations. In this article we introduce the detailed steps to use Windows PowerShell to find and replace test string in the
shapes in Excel Object.
Since the Excel.Application
is available for representing the entire Microsoft Excel application, we can invoke the relevant Properties and Methods to help us to
interact with Excel document.
The figure below is an excel file:
Figure 1.
You can use the PowerShell script below to list the text in the shapes and replace the text string to “text”:
$text = “text1”,”text2”,”text3”,”text3”
$Excel
= New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$Excel.visible = $true
$Workbook
= $Excel.workbooks.open("d:\shape.xlsx")
#Open the excel file
$Worksheet
= $Workbook.Worksheets.Item("shapes")
#Open the worksheet named "shapes"
$shape = $Worksheet.Shapes
# Get all the shapes
$i=0
# This number is used to replace the text in sequence as the variable “$text”
Foreach ($sh in $shape){
$sh.TextFrame.Characters().text
# Get the textbox in the shape
$sh.TextFrame.Characters().text =
$text[$i++]
#Change the value of the textbox in the shape one by one
$WorkBook.Save()
#Save workbook in excel
$WorkBook.Close()
#Close workbook in excel
[void]$excel.quit()
#Quit Excel
Before invoking the methods and properties, we can use the cmdlet “Get-Member” to list the available methods.
Besides, we can also find the documents about these methods and properties in MSDN:
Workbook.Worksheets Property (Excel):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff835542(v=office.15).aspx
Worksheet.Shapes Property:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff821817(v=office.15).aspx
Shape.TextFrame Property:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff839162(v=office.15).aspx
TextFrame.Characters Method (Excel):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff195027(v=office.15).aspx
Characters.Text Property (Excel):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff838596(v=office.15).aspx
After running the script above, we can see the changes in the figure below:
Figure 2.
Please click to vote if the post helps you. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Thank you for the information, but does this thread really need to be stuck to the top of the forum?
If there must be a sticky, I'd rather see a link to a page on the wiki that has links to all of these ForumFAQ posts.
EDIT: I see this is no longer stuck to the top of the forum, thank you.
Don't retire TechNet! -
(Don't give up yet - 13,085+ strong and growing)

How to find and replace text in Excel with Automator

I am new to Automator. And I would like some help how I can create a service that will allow me to find and replace certain text in Excel. I noticed that there is an action to do this for Word documents, but not for Excel document.
Any suggestions how I can do this?
Thanks so much for your help.

Easiest way to do it is the following:
- Open the PDF file in Acrobat.
- Go to Tools - Forms - More Form Options - Export Data.
- Save the form data as an XML file somewhere on your system.
- Open XML the file in a plain-text editor (I recommend Notepad++).
- Let's say you want to replace all the years in the dates from "2013" to "2014". Do a global Search&Replace of "2013-" to "2014-" (I added the dash just to make sure that only date fields are edited).
- Save the XML file (maybe under a new name).
- Go back to the PDF file, and now go to Tools - Forms - More Form Options - Import Data.
- Select the edited XML file and import it.
- Done!

Find and replace characters in file names

I need to transfer much of my user folder (home) to a non-mac computer. My problem is that I have become too used to the generous file name allowances on the Mac. Many of my files have characters such as "*" "!" "?" and "|". I know these are problems because they are often wild cards (except the pipe). Is there a way that I can do a find and replace for these characters?
For example, search for all files with an "*" and replace the "*" in the file name with an "@" or a letter? I don't mind having to use the terminal for this (I suspect it will be easier).
Is this possible? Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Yep.
"A Better Finder Rename" is great for batch file renaming.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/11366
Renamer4mac may be all you need.
Best check out VersionTracker. In fact everybody should have this site bookmarked and visited daily.
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/

Find and Replace Text box

I have a document with roughly 50 pages. At the bottom of each page is a text box about with my address going across. I moved so I need to update the address, only problem is the address is longer so after using find and replace I would have to go to each text box and re-size. IS there a way to replace them all with new one or is there some way to add footer and I have been doing it wrong all along?
Thanks for your time and help.

This is what master pages are for.
Bob

Find and replace with multiple files and with a watch folder

I am trying to create a watch folder that uses red_menace script to:
1. Have a folder that receives multiple xml files that run the script one by one.
2. then move the files to an output folder.
I tried modifying the set TheFIle to choose file -- the original text file to:
with multiple selections allowed
But that doesn't seem to work. I know i'm missing a step. Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks!
The way i'd like to setup things is having an input folder on the desktop (or just have the application on the desktop and I can drag the files onto it), and let it do it's thing. Once it's done have it export the xml files into an output folder.
Here's what i got so far:
on open
set TheFIle to choose file -- the original text file
set TheFolder to ("Macintosh HD:Users:user1:Desktop:out") -- the folder for the output file
set TheName to (GetUniqueName for TheFIle from TheFolder) -- the name for the output file
set TheText to read TheFIle -- get the text to edit
set Originals to {"KPCALDATE", "KPCALEVENT", "KPCALDAY", "KPCALBODY", "obituaries name", "" & return & "</cstyle></pstyle>" & return & "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle>", "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle name=\"Graphics Bold leadin\" font=\"ADV AGBook-Medium 2\">", "<pstyle name=\"Recipe Ingredients\"><cstyle>", " .com", " .net", " .org", " .edu", "www .", "www. ", "Ho- nolulu", "<pstyle name=\"kicker 12\"><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">fashion news</cstyle><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">" & return & "</cstyle></pstyle>" & return & "", "<component name=\"Headline 1\" type=\"Headline\">" & return & "<header>" & return & "<field name=\"Component name\" type=\"string\" value=\"Headline 1\"/>" & return & "<field name=\"Component type\" type=\"popup\" value=\"Headline\"/>" & return & "</header>" & return & "<body>" & return & "<pstyle name=\"hed STANDARD 36\"><cstyle>", "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">", "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle name=\"Graphics Bold leadin\">", "<pstyle name=\"tagline\"><cstyle>-", "-", "
Per serving:", "<pstyle name=\"Titlebar - mini, red\"><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">NATION & World </cstyle><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">Report</cstyle><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">" & return & "</cstyle></pstyle>" & return & "", "</cstyle></pstyle>"} -- the terms that can be replaced
set Replacements to {"subhed", "subhed", "subhed", "Normal", "obituaries text", ", ", "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle name=\"Graphics Bold leadin\" font=\"ADV AGBook-Medium 2\">", "<pstyle name=\"Recipe Ingredients\"><cstyle>
", ".com", ".net", ".org", ".edu", "www.", "www.", "Honolulu", "", "<component name=\"Headline1\" type=\"Headline\">" & return & "<header>" & return & "<field name=\"Component name\" type=\"string\" value=\"Headline1\"/>" & return & "<field name=\"Component type\" type=\"popup\" value=\"Headline\"/>" & return & "</header>" & return & "<body>" & return & "<pstyle name=\"hed STANDARD 27\"><cstyle>", "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle allcaps=\"1\">", "<pstyle name=\"obituaries text\"><cstyle name=\"Graphics Bold leadin\">", "<pstyle name=\"tagline\"><cstyle>", " ", "
Per serving:", "","" & return & "</cstyle></pstyle>"} -- the replacement terms
repeat with AnItem from 1 to count Originals
set TheText to (replaceText of TheText from (item AnItem of Originals) to (item AnItem of Replacements))
end repeat
try -- write a new output file
tell application "Finder" to make new file at TheFolder with properties {name:TheName}
set OpenFile to open for access (result as alias) with write permission
write TheText to OpenFile starting at eof
close access OpenFile
on error errmess
try
log errmess
close access OpenFile
end try
end try
end open
to GetUniqueName for SomeFile from SomeFolder
check if SomeFile exists in SomeFolder, creating a new unique name if needed
parameters - SomeFile [mixed]: a source file path
SomeFolder [mixed]: a folder to check
returns [text]: a unique file name and extension
set {Counter, Divider} to {"00", "_"}
-- get the name and extension
set {name:TheName, name extension:TheExtension} to info for file (SomeFile as text)
if TheExtension is missing value then set TheExtension to ""
set TheName to text 1 thru -((count TheExtension) + 2) of TheName
set NewName to TheName & "." & TheExtension
tell application "System Events" to tell (get name of files of folder (SomeFolder as text))
repeat while it contains NewName
set Counter to text 2 thru -1 of ((100 + Counter + 1) as text) -- leading zero
set NewName to TheName & Divider & Counter & "." & TheExtension
end repeat
end tell
return NewName
end GetUniqueName
to EditItems of SomeItems given Title:TheTitle, Prompt:ThePrompt
displays a dialog for multiple item edit (note that a return is used between each edit item)
for each of the items in SomeItems, a line containing it's text is placed in the edit box
the number of items returned are padded or truncated to match the number of items in SomeItems
parameters - SomeItems [list]: a list of text items to edit
TheTitle [boolean/text]: use a default or the given dialog title
ThePrompt [boolean/text]: use a default or the given prompt text
returns [list]: a list of the edited items, or {} if error
set {TheItems, TheInput, TheCount} to {{}, {}, (count SomeItems)}
if TheCount is less than 1 then return {} -- error
if ThePrompt is in {true, false} then -- "with" or "without" Prompt
if ThePrompt then
set ThePrompt to "Edit the following items:" & return -- default
else
set ThePrompt to ""
end if
else -- fix up the given prompt a little
set ThePrompt to ThePrompt & return
end if
if TheTitle is in {true, false} then if TheTitle then -- "with" or "without" Title
set TheTitle to "Multiple Edit Dialog" -- default
else
set TheTitle to ""
end if
set {TempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, return}
set {SomeItems, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {SomeItems as text, TempTID}
set TheInput to paragraphs of text returned of (display dialog ThePrompt with title TheTitle default answer SomeItems)
repeat with AnItem from 1 to TheCount -- pad/truncate entered items
try
set the end of TheItems to (item AnItem of TheInput)
on error
set the end of TheItems to ""
end try
end repeat
return TheItems
end EditItems
to replaceText of SomeText from OldItem to NewItem
replace all occurances of OldItem with NewItem
parameters - SomeText [text]: the text containing the item(s) to change
OldItem [text]: the item to be replaced
NewItem [text]: the item to replace with
returns [text]: the text with the item(s) replaced
set SomeText to SomeText as Unicode text -- TID's are case insensitive with Unicode text
set {TempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, OldItem}
set {ItemList, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {text items of SomeText, NewItem}
set {SomeText, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {ItemList as text, TempTID}
return SomeText
end replaceText
Message was edited by: gamebreakers

When you use the open or adding folder items to handlers, you need to add the parameters for the file items passed to them.
I'll go ahead and post the applet/droplet version of my original script from the previous topic for reference:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 340px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFEE80;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
-- search and replace multiple items applet/droplet/folder action
-- the terms to replace - edit as needed
property EditableItems : {¬
"one", ¬
"two", ¬
"three", ¬
"four", ¬
"five", ¬
"six", ¬
"seven", ¬
"eight", ¬
"nine", ¬
"ten", ¬
"eleven", ¬
"twelve", ¬
"thirteen", ¬
"fourteen", ¬
"fifteen", ¬
"sixteen", ¬
"seventeen", ¬
"eighteen", ¬
"nineteen", ¬
"twenty"}
-- the folder for the output file(s) - change as needed
property TheFolder : (path to desktop)
property LastEditItems : EditableItems
on run
the applet/droplet was double-clicked
open (choose file with multiple selections allowed)
end run
on open TheItems
items were dropped onto the applet/droplet
parameters - TheItems [list]: a list of the items (aliases) dropped
returns nothing
repeat with AnItem in TheItems
ReplaceMultipleItems from AnItem
end repeat
end open
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
folder action - items were added to a folder
parameters - this_folder [alias]: the folder added to
these_items [list]: a list if items (aliases) added
returns nothing
repeat with AnItem in these_items
ReplaceMultipleItems from AnItem
end repeat
end adding folder items to
to ReplaceMultipleItems from SomeFile
replace multiple text items in SomeFile
parameters - SomeFile [alias]: the file to replace items in
returns nothing
set TheName to (GetUniqueName for SomeFile from TheFolder) -- the name for the output file
set TheText to read SomeFile -- get the text to edit
set Originals to (choose from list EditableItems default items LastEditItems with prompt "Select the terms to replace:" with multiple selections allowed) -- the specific terms to replace
set LastEditItems to Originals
set Replacements to (EditItems of Originals with Title given Prompt:"Edit the following replacement terms:") -- the replacement terms
repeat with AnItem from 1 to count Originals
set TheText to (ReplaceText of TheText from (item AnItem of Originals) to (item AnItem of Replacements))
end repeat
try -- write a new output file
tell application "Finder" to make new file at TheFolder with properties {name:TheName}
set OpenFile to open for access (result as alias) with write permission
write TheText to OpenFile starting at eof
close access OpenFile
on error errmess
try
log errmess
close access OpenFile
end try
end try
end ReplaceMultipleItems
to GetUniqueName for SomeFile from SomeFolder
check if SomeFile exists in SomeFolder, creating a new unique name if needed
parameters - SomeFile [mixed]: a source file path
SomeFolder [mixed]: a folder to check
returns [text]: a unique file name and extension
set {Counter, Divider} to {"00", "_"}
-- get the name and extension
set {name:TheName, name extension:TheExtension} to info for file (SomeFile as text)
if TheExtension is in {missing value, ""} then
set TheExtension to ""
else
set TheExtension to "." & TheExtension
end if
set {NewName, TheExtension} to {TheName, (ChangeCase of TheExtension to "upper")}
set TheName to text 1 thru -((count TheExtension) + 1) of TheName
tell application "System Events" to tell (get name of files of folder (SomeFolder as text))
repeat while it contains NewName
set Counter to text 2 thru -1 of ((100 + Counter + 1) as text) -- leading zero
set NewName to TheName & Divider & Counter & TheExtension
end repeat
end tell
return NewName
end GetUniqueName
to EditItems of SomeItems given Title:TheTitle, Prompt:ThePrompt
displays a dialog for multiple item edit (note that a return is used between each edit item)
for each of the items in SomeItems, a line containing it's text is placed in the edit box
the number of items returned are padded or truncated to match the number of items in SomeItems
parameters - SomeItems [list]: a list of text items to edit
TheTitle [boolean/text]: use a default or the given dialog title
ThePrompt [boolean/text]: use a default or the given prompt text
returns [list]: a list of the edited items, or {} if error
set {TheItems, TheInput, TheCount} to {{}, {}, (count SomeItems)}
if TheCount is less than 1 then return {} -- error
if ThePrompt is in {true, false} then -- "with" or "without" Prompt
if ThePrompt then
set ThePrompt to "Edit the following items:" & return -- default
else
set ThePrompt to ""
end if
else -- fix up the given prompt a little
set ThePrompt to ThePrompt & return
end if
if TheTitle is in {true, false} then if TheTitle then -- "with" or "without" Title
set TheTitle to "Multiple Edit Dialog" -- default
else
set TheTitle to ""
end if
set {TempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, return}
set {SomeItems, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {SomeItems as text, TempTID}
set TheInput to paragraphs of text returned of (display dialog ThePrompt with title TheTitle default answer SomeItems)
repeat with AnItem from 1 to TheCount -- pad/truncate entered items
try
set the end of TheItems to (item AnItem of TheInput)
on error
set the end of TheItems to ""
end try
end repeat
return TheItems
end EditItems
to ReplaceText of SomeText from OldItem to NewItem
replace all occurances of OldItem with NewItem
parameters - SomeText [text]: the text containing the item(s) to change
OldItem [text]: the item to be replaced
NewItem [text]: the item to replace with
returns [text]: the text with the item(s) replaced
set SomeText to SomeText as text
if SomeText contains OldItem then
set {TempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, OldItem}
try
set {ItemList, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {text items of SomeText, NewItem}
set {SomeText, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {ItemList as text, TempTID}
on error ErrorMessage number ErrorNumber -- oops
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to TempTID
error ErrorMessage number ErrorNumber
end try
end if
return SomeText
end ReplaceText
to ChangeCase of SomeText to CaseType
changes the case or capitalization of SomeText to the specified CaseType using Python
parameters - SomeText [text]: the text to change
CaseType [text]: the type of case desired:
"upper" = all uppercase text
"lower" = all lowercase text
"title" = uppercase character at start of each word, otherwise lowercase
"capitalize" = capitalize the first character of the text, otherwise lowercase
returns [text]: the changed text
set SomeText to SomeText as text
if CaseType is not in {"upper", "lower", "title", "capitalize"} then return SomeText
return (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c \"import sys; print unicode(sys.argv[1], 'utf8')." & CaseType & "().encode('utf8')\" " & quoted form of SomeText)
end ChangeCase
</pre>
Edit: how does the choose from list dialog handle those big strings? I'm guessing not very well - is that why you avoided using them?
Message was edited by: red_menace

Search and Replace text in file using PowerShell

I want to schedule a script in PowerShell to search a directory for an XML file for a particular text string and replace it with a different text string and then save the file with the same name, the name of the file
will change each time the script is run on a daily basis. There will only be one XML file in the location when the scheduled script is run.
I have never used PowerShell but am familiar with batch file commands, can anyone please help!!
KevinS

Hi Kevin,
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Find and Replace text in several files

Can automator do that?
I made a website in iweb and as the ones of you that had already tried it must know, it is impossible to change the font format on the links, you have to hack the code manually, changing the .css files.
I think a trick would be to get automator to replace the code automatically, to lock for a string of text inside a group of files and save it. I just don't know how to do it. Can anybody help?
The most I have been able to do is to get automator to open all .css files within a folder, inlcuidng all subfolders and open them on textedit.

I doubt anyone is going to download and look at your code. Please remember that anyone who helps you here is a volunteer, and so the onus is on you to make helping you as easy as possible to do. That means you must take the effort to pare your code down to the bare minimum that shows your problem and compiles, and then post this code here. If you do decide to do this, please use code tags by highlighting your code after pasting it, and then pressing the Code button just above the editor window.
Good luck.

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