GREP: date/time search and replace

Question

Hi everybody,
I frequently import XML files to InDesign. The XML structure always contains the following information among others:
start date
start time
end date
end time
For example, it looks like this:
21.08.2013
09:00
25.08.2013
18:00
Now I need to re-arrange these fields in one row, just like this:
21.08.2013, 09:00 - 25.08.2013, 18:00
I already found out how to do this via GREP, but I need to go one step further:
If "start date" and "end date" are the same (for example both are "21.08.2013"), I would like to skip the "end date" in the output. It should look like this:
21.08.2013, 09:00 - 18:00
Is there a way to do this via GREP?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This will do it
Trevor
// By Trevor http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1261365?tstart=0
app.doScript("formatDates ()", ScriptLanguage.javascript, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "GREP: date/time search and replace");
function formatDates ()
        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
        app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\\d\\d\r\\d\\d:\\d\\d\r\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\\d\\d\r(?=\\d\\d:\\d\\d\r)";
        var doc = app.activeDocument,
              dateFinds = doc.findGrep(),
              l = dateFinds.length, dates;
        while (l--)
                app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "(\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\\d\\d)";
                dates = dateFinds[l].findGrep();
                app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "(\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\\d\\d)\r(\\d\\d:\\d\\d)\r(\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\.\\d\\d\\d\\d)\r";
                if (dates[0].contents == dates[1].contents) app.changeGrepPreferences.changeTo = "$1 $2 - ";
                else app.changeGrepPreferences.changeTo = "$1 $2 - $3 ";
                dateFinds[l].changeGrep();