Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 70554
Regular expression searching/replacing line breaks is broken
Last modified: 2007-07-23 16:40:35 UTC
Using the search & replace dialogue with regular expressions to find and/or replace CRLF's doesn't work (CR = carriage return, LF = line feed). Using \n for searching only finds LF's, including several consecutive LF's, but (predictably) not CRLF's. Inconsistently, using \n for inserting/replacing something *with* an LF, instead inserts a CRLF. This includes inserting several consecutive CRLF's. Using any combination (that I've managed to test so far) using $ to search & replace CRLF's, can only handle replacing *one*, the first, CRLF, not many consecutive. The standard regular expression \r for searching and/or replacing CR's (for some reason often used for CRLF's too) doesn't work at all. This all makes things like e. g. searching and replacing a string followed by three CRLF's with some string followed by one *LF* impossible ATM. Not being able to perform arbitrary search & replace operations on any types of texts in formats supported by OOo with the means delivered in OOo, i. e. regular expressions, renders OOo useless for many professional purposes without external helper applications that *can* perform such standard operations, i. e. MS Office or more highly specialized (read: non-trivial) tools. This defeats the purpose of having OOo at all.
ES->SBA: a well known duplicate..?
Es/Sba, a duplicate of which issue? I searched for this problem before posting and didn't find it. There are lots of different issues about regular expressions. Sometimes many such issues get reported in one go - and get ticked off in the same go when/if there is some resolution or other. Perhaps that's why you think you've seen it before?
SBA: See also issue 75214. That one plus this one helped me to "tune" issue 46165. ...maybe to help it becoming the "RegEx Meta-master-issue that turns into a specification for a soon-to-come a bold rework effort in order to get this better, more powerful, more intuitive, you-name-it than the Find&Replace features of a "not exactly unknown rival product"... *** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 46165 ***
closing the dupe..
I don't want to insult your intelligence :), but after reading the issues pointed to, and the one this is supposed to be a duplicate of, *and* from sad experience, I wonder if you really, really got the whole point in this issue. There is a crucial part of this issue, that I could not find clearly in any of these issues you point to (directly or indirectly): http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=75214 http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=46165 http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=63074 http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=28913 What is lacking there, is any mention of the ability to use replace for /inserting/ *any number of CR's, LF's or CRLF's in any combination* into a document. OOo needs to be able not only to distinguish between different ways of ending a line, but also needs to be able to *both* find them *and* replace them *with any one of the different kinds*. This has been misunderstood so many times, and in so many ways, that I feel forced to reopen the issue until unambiguously confirmed that the above has been correctly understood and is included in whatever other bugs this is regarded as being a duplicate of. Please note that this is not just me being finicky - not having this feature (along with a few others) contributes strongly to reducing OOo to a mere sideshow for a whole professional group.
Confirmed. It does not appear to be possible to search for a block of text that stretches multiple paragraphs.
As per previous - issue has been confirmed.
SBA: The remaining couple of my brain cells tell methat the area "Find and Replace" (especially "RegEx" and finding AND REPLACING specialities like line breaks, page breaks, whatever "Controls character" needs a rework. Ab "big time rework" Please note that we are aware of what MS Word has to offer in this area and YES - that looks much more user-friendly than what OOo currently has. This one is still a duplicate of the "Make things better" issue 46165. Please note my comment in there: <QUOTE> The many existing issues about Regular Expressions show that this area needs a "general rework" so that regular expressions may become a consistent, powerful and INTUITIVE tool for the user. </QUOTE> So, when this area gets a rework, you can be assured that a look at all related issues (defects and enhancements as well as closed duplicates) PLUS the analysis of "the other products" will be taken into account. SBA-> gudmund: There is no point in dissussing "fragments of RegEx hinderances and how bad they are and how much they stop some peoples world from turning." - It is crystal clear to QA and development, that a "huge" rework is needed anyway. So if you prefer to have YOUR problem written into a "surviving" issue, please use issue 46165 for that. You can as well produce an entire specification (better use the spec template :-) and attach it to that issue. *** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 46165 ***
SBA: Closed. For the last time, I hope :-)