Replace new lines with a comma delimiter with Notepad++?

Question

I have a Notepad++ question.

How can I take the below words in Notepad++ (which is on different lines)

Apples
Apricots
Pear
Avocados
Bananas

And turn them into a paragraph with a comma at the end of each one? Like this:

Apples, Apricots, Pear, Avocados, Bananas

Solution 1

Open the find and replace dialog (press CTRL+H).

Then select Regular expression in the 'Search Mode' section at the bottom.

In the Find what field enter this: [\r\n]+

In the Replace with: , 

There is a space after the comma.

This will also replace lines like

Apples

Apricots
Pear

Avocados
Bananas

Where there are empty lines.

If your lines have trailing blank spaces you should remove those first. The simplest way to achieve this is

EDIT -> Blank Operations -> Trim Trailing Space

OR

TextFX -> TextFX Edit -> Trim trailing spaces

Be sure to set the Search Mode to "Regular expression".

Solution 2

Here's what worked for me with a similar list of strings in Notepad++ without any macros or anything else:

1. Click Edit -> Blank Operations -> EOL to space [All the items should now be in a single line separated by a 'space']

2. Select any 'space' and do a Replace All (by ',')

Solution 3

fapDaddy's answer using a macro pointed me in the right direction.

Here's precisely what worked for me.

1. Place the cursor after the first data item.

2. Click 'Macro > Start Recording' in the menu.

3. Type this sequence: Comma, Space, Delete, End.

4. Click 'Macro > Stop recording' in the menu.

5. Click 'Macro > Run a Macro Multiple Times...' in the menu.

6. Click 'Run until the end of file' and click 'Run'.

7. Remove any trailing characters.

8. Done!

Solution 4

For Notepad++ 5.9

1. Press Ctrl+H
2. Select Search mode Extended(\n, \r, \t, \o, \x...)
3. Enter Find what: \r\n
4. Enter Replace with: ,
5. Replace_All should get the required result.

Solution 5

A regex match with \s+ worked for me:

View more solutions

Comments

[user2231530]

Thanks for that tip. What if I have 5000++ words? Do I need to run the macro for all of them individually? Is there an easier method?

[viclim]

If you'll have to perform similar task in the future, you might want to write a script for it. Easy way out is probably just go to the Macro Tab and select run the macro multiple times. It will be done in seconds.

[AdrianHHH]

If there are trailing spaces on the line you might for _*[\r\n]+. To deal with the blank lines turned into excess commas you could do a regular expression search for ,_[,_]+ and replace with ,_. Alternatively, the TextFx package has a delete blanks lines command that can be used before adding the commas. (Note change underscores to spaces in these code blocks.)

[Admin]

yes you are very correct. I was just trying to give a minimalistic answer. Maybe I should edit the answer then.

[Iain Samuel McLean Elder]

This doesn't work for me: I see "0 occurrences were replaced."

[Iain Samuel McLean Elder]

+1 Your answer pointed me in the right direction. In my answer I documented exactly what worked for me.

[Iain Samuel McLean Elder]

This method is slow for thousands of data items.

[reggaeguitar]

Simple and elegant, nice

[himanshupareek66]

@trishul Really Nice.

[Scott Lawrence]

@IainElder, Search Mode must be set to "Regular expression" instead of "Normal" or "Extended".

[Peter T.]

Great answer. Thanks :)

[dhochee]

I had the same result as Iain.

[Drew]

Please improve this answer. Links to images won't be useful.

[Moin]

Such a great info, will be useful in many similar situations. Thanks!

[Høgsdal]

This just saved me 10 minutes.

[AdrianHHH]

This answer repeats the accepted answer and this answer refers to an antique version of Notepad++, version 7.4.x is now available. Welcome to Stack Overflow but please make you answers supply new information or give new insights. Repeating existing answers is not useful.

[AcePL]

Did not work for me, answer by trisulphani below is waaaaay simpler. Not sure why this one is marked as answer.

[ironman]

Thanks for sharing the information. It's interesting.

[user3673]

BTW: it seems to me that a regex match with $^ should work, but it, instead, matches ^$.

[nurdyguy]

For newer versions of npp this is the better way to to this.

[nurdyguy]

Using the "Extended" option right above the "Regular expression" option (in your screen shot) is actually the easiest way to accomplish this.

[Mageician]

This is the easiest answer. I should not have to go into Regular Expression mode just to replace newlines with commas. N++ actually works correctly whereas other editors interpret "\n" as a carriage return AND line feed, which confused me at first.

[Nitin Garg]

Very simple solution