Notepad++ find and replace within a constant string

Question

Using notepad++ I have the following text.

This little piggy went to market, \textbf{smith1774}
This little \textbf{ben1864} piggy stayed \textbf{mueller2867} home,
This little piggy had roast beef

Now I want to remove the \text{} but keep the text in the middle.

I cant do a simple search and replace in two steps (\text{ + }) as my document contains {} in other positions.....

Answer 1

You can do it following these steps:

• open find and replace dialog (CTRL+H)
• make sure "regular expression" box is checked
• find what:
  \\textbf\{([^}]*)\}
• replace to:
  $1

You can test is here

Answer 2

An alternative approach is to use a non-greedy wildcard (.*?) in the capturing group.

Search for:

\\textbf\{(.*?)\}

Replace with:

\1