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From: Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net>
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Please ignore my previous post - Re: Automating an atypical
 search & replace
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2024 02:33:25 -0500
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On 07/13/2024 12:55 PM, Janis Papanagnou wrote:
> Please ignore my previous post - it would delete the whole span'ed
> section!
> 
> 
> It just occurred to me you'd probably want something like
> 
>    /<span class='add'>
>    df>
>    /<\/span>
>    df>
> 
> And if you're using recording of the commands (I'll provide code
> on demand) just repeat the recordings. You can also just use the
> arrow keys after typing  /  to get the previous search patterns
> if you like.

I don't know how to parse your answer.
But I suspect following some leads from Lawrence and Stan in this thread 
will be illuminating. I have just started reading
https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/kate/katepart/regular-expressions.html .

Part of my motive for this project is self education.

> 
> 
> On 13.07.2024 19:48, Janis Papanagnou wrote:
>> On 13.07.2024 18:08, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> I'm reformatting some HTML files containing chapters of the KJV Bible.
>>> My source follows the practice of italicizing some words.
>>> I find italics distracting.
>>>
>>> These occurrences are consistently of the form
>>>     <span class='add'>arbitrary_text</span>
>>>
>>> I wish to delete "<span class='add'>" and *ASSOCIATED* "</span>".
>>> Obviously it would not be wise to fully automate the action.
>>> I wish to find all occurrences of <span
>>> class='add'>arbitrary_text</span> an manually confirm the edit.
>>>
>>> In general, is it feasible?
>>
>> Yes, sure.
>>
>> Some remarks...
>> I would use Regular Expressions (RE) for that task.
>> If <span> sections can be nested in your HTML source then you
>> cannot do that with plain RE processors.
>> Since you want to inspect each <span> pattern individually it's
>> not clear what you mean by "automate" (which I'd interpret as
>> running a batch job to do the process).
>> Actually you seem to want a sequential find + replace-or-skip.
>>
>> In Vim I'd search for the "<span ..." pattern and then delete
>> to the next "</span>" pattern. (Assuming no nested <span>.)
>> Rinse repeat.
>> That could be (for example) the commands [case 1]
>>
>>    /<span class='add'>
>>    d/<\/span>df>
>>
>> If there's no other <...> inside the span-sections you could
>> simplify that to [case 2]
>>
>>    /<span class='add'>
>>    d2f>
>>
>> with the opportunity to repeat those search+delete commands
>> by simply typing  n.  for every match, like  n.n.n.n.  or if
>> you want to skip some like, e.g.,   n.nnnn.n.nnn.n
>>
>> With  n  you get to the next span pattern and  .  repeats the
>> last command.
>>
>> In [case 1] the repeat isn't possible since we have two delete
>> operations  d/<\/span>  and  df>  , but here you can define
>> macros to trigger the command by a keystroke or just use the
>> recording function to repeat the once recorded commands.
>>
>> Sounds complicated? - Maybe. - But if we know your exact data
>> format we can provide the best command sequence for Vim for
>> most easy use.
>>
>>
>>> Can KDE's Kate do it?
>>
>> Don't know.
>>
>> Janis
>>
>>>
>>> TIA
>>
>