In Notepad++, how to Replace Text between two delimiter across multiple lines

Question

A comma-delimited file is created when exporting google contacts into what they term "Google CSV format (for importing into a Google account)". The issue is this format handles notes on multiple lines by inserting the text in quotes, and allowing CRLF with those quotes.

In other words, imagine a record with Name,Note,Email when it has a multi-line note appears as follows in the .csv file:

Name,"Note FirstLine\r\n

SecondNoteLine\r\n

Lastnoteline",[email protected]\r\n

The Same record with no note field appears as follows, and is in a single line (More standard):

Name,,[email protected]\r\n

I'm trying to form the correct regex expression, and have tried to glean it out of How to use regular expressions in Notepad++ (tutorial) to no avail.

The closest I'v gotten (not very close ) is
,\".*,\"

with . Matching newline.

The expression I'm trying to match is:

"Select the text between ," and ", only when there are one or more /r/n " "and replace with NUL"

So that in the ablove examples both records would be identical and I can get each contact record to appear on a single line, and be able to import it into excel.

At this point, my eyes are bleeding, and any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The below worked for me with Notepad++ just as you explain you need, and with the example data you provided in your question as well.

Lights . . .

Camera . . .

1. _{Find What: ((?:^|\r\n)[^"]*+"[^\r\n"]*+)\r\n([^"]*+")}
2. _{Replace with: $1 $2}
3. _{Be sure the Regular expression option is checked}
4. _{Be sure the Wrap Around option is checked}
5. _{Press Replace All as many times as you need to get the final and expected results for your records}

Action . . .

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Explanation:

(
  (?:^|\r\n)     Begin at start of file or before the CRLF before the start of a record
  [^"]*+         Consume all chars up to the opening "
  "              Consume the opening "
  [^\r\n"]*+     Consume all chars up to either the first CRLF or the closing "
)                Save as capturing group 1 (= everything in record before the target CRLF)
\r\n             Consume the target CRLF without capturing it
(
  [^"]*+         Consume all chars up to the closing "
  "              Consume the closing "
)                Save as capturing group 2 (= the rest of the string after the target CRLF)

Note: The *+ is a possessive quantifier. Use them appropriately to speed up execution.

Update:

This more general version of the regex will work with any line break sequence (\r\n, \r or \n):

((?:^|[\r\n]+)[^"]*+"[^\r\n"]*+)[\r\n]+([^"]*+")

Source