Notepad++ Merge 10+ lines into 1 line

Question

I'm trying to use Notepad++ to merge multiple lines into one. The problem I'm facing is when trying this code, I get this result:

Date/Time:
Sequence:
Event:
Category:
Priority:
Attention:
Alert:
Visibility:
Description:
Codes:
Type:
Location:
Logged by:

Find: (.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)\r\n(.+)

Replace with: \1\t\2\t\3\t\4\t\5\t\6\t\7\t\8\t\9\t\10\t\11\t\12\t\13\t

Result: Date/Time: Sequence: Event: Category: Priority: Attention: Alert: Visibility: Description: Date/Time:0 Date/Time:1 Date/Time:2 Date/Time:3

Can anyone assist with a easier or shorter way? I can't highlight the text and select to Join Lines. The document has thousands of these results and I'm trying to streamline. It's always a set of 13.

Answer 1

Option 1: Change your replace to use braced numbers:

Edit: Corrected replacement string

\g{1}\t\g{2}\t\g{3}\t\g{4}\t\g{5}\t\g{6}\t\g{7}\t\g{8}\t\g{9}\t\g{10}\t\g{11}\t\g{12}\t\g{13}\t

${1}\t${2}\t${3}\t${4}\t${5}\t${6}\t${7}\t${8}\t${9}\t${10}\t${11}\t${12}\t${13}

Option 2: Your match string to include named groups:

(?<a>.+)\r\n(?<b>.+)\r\n(?<c>.+)\r\n(?<d>.+)\r\n(?<e>.+)\r\n(?<f>.+)\r\n(?<g>.+)\r\n(?<h>.+)\r\n(?<i>.+)\r\n(?<j>.+)\r\n(?<k>.+)\r\n(?<l>.+)\r\n(?<m>.+)

AND, change the replace string to use those groups:

Edit: Corrected replacement string

\g{a}\t\g{b}\t\g{c}\t\g{d}\t\g{e}\t\g{f}\t\g{g}\t\g{h}\t\g{i}\t\g{j}\t\g{k}\t\g{l}\t\g{m}

$+{a}\t$+{b}\t$+{c}\t$+{d}\t$+{e}\t$+{f}\t$+{g}\t$+{h}\t$+{i}\t$+{j}\t$+{k}\t$+{l}\t$+{m}

Your choice, although option 1 is less work, option 2 can come in handy as well.

New Note: The names in option 2, <a> and {a} are not limited to one character. They can be any 'name' type string you want, as long as it is in the normal range of letters, number, and underscores. Not sure if other special characters, including spaces, are valid. Avoiding them is wisest, just in case.

Answer 2

Method 1

Search → Replace...

• Find what: \r\n
• Replace with: \t
• Wrap around: Checked
• Search mode: Regular expression

Method 2

Edit → Blank Operations → EOL to Space

Answer 3

If all set of 13 lines begin with Date/Time:, you could do this. It will replace all linebreaks that are not followed by Date/Time with a tabulation:

• Ctrl+H
• Find what: \R(?!Date/Time:)
• Replace with: \t
• UNcheck Match case
• check Wrap around
• check Regular expression
• Replace all

Explanation:

\R              : any kind of linebreak
(?!             : start negative lookahead, make sure we don't have after
  Date/Time:    : literally
)               : end lookahead

Result for 3 sets of lines:

Date/Time:  Sequence:   Event:  Category:   Priority:   Attention:  Alert:  Visibility: Description:    Codes:  Type:   Location:   Logged by:
Date/Time:  Sequence:   Event:  Category:   Priority:   Attention:  Alert:  Visibility: Description:    Codes:  Type:   Location:   Logged by:
Date/Time:  Sequence:   Event:  Category:   Priority:   Attention:  Alert:  Visibility: Description:    Codes:  Type:   Location:   Logged by: