REGEX NOTEPAD ++

Question

I have a list in this format

FIRSTTEXT:SECONDTEXT:RANDOMTEXT::::::::RANDOMNUMBERS:NUMBER:

but all the text is not in this format. i want to save only FIRSTTEXT:SECONDTEXT, firsttext and secondtext are in the same position on all document !

I have tried this one:

Find what: (.+):(.+)
Replace with: \1:\2

However, it doesn't work.

Answer 1

You may use

Find What: ^(?:([^:\s]+:[^:\s]+).*|.*\R*)
Replace With: $1

Details

• ^ - start of a line
• (?: - start of a non-capturing group:
  • ([^:\s]+:[^:\s]+) - Group 1 ($1 refers to this value):
    • [^:\s]+ - 1+ chars other than whitespace and :
    • : - a colon
    • [^:\s]+ - 1+ chars other than whitespace and :
  • .* - 0+ chars other than any line break char, as many as possible
• | - or
  • .* - 0+ chars other than any line break char, as many as possible
  • \R* - 0+ line break sequences
• ) - end of the non-capturing group.

Demo and settings: