is there a portable batch text editor ?

[giulia]

Hi
i really like notepad++
but many times i need a batch editor and let it work with lots of files

for example i have 100 text files and i have to replace the word "stars" with "Star"

i would like to have a full portable software that can help me , seeing i could do similar stuff with other files

is there a portable software that let me do it?
thanks

[thepiney]

AstroGrep has that as a possible upcoming feature---> http://astrogrep.sourceforge.net/features

Also there is EmEditor Free---> https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2960

[Napiophelios]

Replace Genius ain't too bad

Don't know how stealth it is but they have a portable version

Code: Select all

https://www.rlvision.com/script/download.php?ref=rlv.com&file=ReplaceGenius_Portable.zip

Edit: Looks like there is a TPFC forum topic for it

[webfork]

batch editor and let it work with lots of files

I've had very good success with the open source dnGrep. In testing, it was very fast, supports multi-line edits, loads of regex and similar tools, and supports content outside of text files (rare for these types of tools). The only reason it isn't in the database is because it still appears to be in early development.

[giulia]

Replace Genius ain't too bad

Don't know how stealth it is but they have a portable version

Code: Select all

https://www.rlvision.com/script/download.php?ref=rlv.com&file=ReplaceGenius_Portable.zip

Edit: Looks like there is a TPFC forum topic for it

hi
nice program , it's shareware and not free
i like it ,don't know the limits of the shareware version

thanks!

[giulia]

batch editor and let it work with lots of files

I've had very good success with the open source dnGrep. In testing, it was very fast, supports multi-line edits, loads of regex and similar tools, and supports content outside of text files (rare for these types of tools). The only reason it isn't in the database is because it still appears to be in early development.

hi
and it's portable
i will try tomorrow
thanks!

[Napiophelios]

hi
nice program , it's shareware and not free
i like it ,don't know the limits of the shareware version

thanks!

It's not shareware, at least the portable version isn't.

[lintalist]

A golden oldie: BK ReplacEm probably still works.

Screenshots: https://www.snapfiles.com/screenshots/bkreplace.htm you can download it from webarchive
Download: https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213 ... g/replace/

I think it is portable, you can just "unzip" the exe installer and that's it, I don't recall I every installed it as such. I haven't used it in a long time as I now use either a text editor with find replace/in files or write scripts - both AutoHotkey and "batch" scripts using Unix tools (the Windows version) such as sed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sed - although visual feedback can be nice - I find scripting gives me more flexibility in many cases, especially if you need to automate it for repetitive use.

One think I do like about BK is you can do multiple actions on a set of files, replace 'this' with 'that', replace lines between "something" and "else" by "new text" etc. use source and target folders etc. Often find/replace programs only do one action which gets pretty annoying.

Depending on your needs it might just fit the bill as isn't overly complex and very light / small.

[hamasaki]

CudaText can also batch replace in multiple files.

[Midas]

A golden oldie: BK ReplacEm probably still works.

Screenshots: https://www.snapfiles.com/screenshots/bkreplace.htm you can download it from webarchive:
Download: https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213736/http://www.orbit.org/replace/

Direct DL link: https://web.archive.org/web/20070630111433/http://www.orbit.org/replace/bkrep20.exe

I also saw fit to replicate ReplacEm's available changelog since it describes many of its functionalities (click the Spoiler! below)...

Spoiler!   

Changes Made to ReplaceEm

Changes from version 1.7 to version 2.0:

• Fixed problems with copying/pasting selections of the search/replace table that would sometimes cause the program to hang or crash.
• Fixed a bug that caused a crash when a replace group was removed using the menu choice.
• Fixed a problem where right-clicking on a replace group produced a context-menu with the wrong items enabled and disabled.
• Fixed a problem where the destination files lost their file extensions if the Maintain Folder Structure checkbox wasn't checked in the File Properties. Similar problems for backup files are fixed as well.
• Fixed a problem with the Exact Match search/replace not working as expected.
• The program now has full Windows uninstall support (it can now be uninstalled completely through Control Panel / Add/Remove Programs). For this reason, the Registry tab in the Options dialog has been removed (previously it served some of this purpose).
• Added ability to control if and how read-only destination files are written to.
• Added Regular Expression search/replace facilities.
• Added Range Replacement search/replace facilities.
• Added the ability to use a dynamic file as search or replace text; i.e. the file is loaded at replace-time and you can choose whether key codes are interpreted as such, or assumed to be plain text (flattened).
• Added ability to specify multiple file filters as well as the ability to specify exclusion file filters. Compatibility note: If you previously had a file filter which used spaces, you must now surround it by double-quotes.
• Added option to only log replace groups that have files associated with them.
• Added option to only log files which were changed, or only those which were unchanged.
• You can now manipulate multiple rows of search/replace text at the same time (by selecting multiple rows with the mouse or keyboard).
• You can now move rows of search/replace text up or down to easily change the order of replace processing.
• You can now sort the rows of search/replace text automatically in (case-sensitive) alphabetical order.
• There is now a unified Advanced Edit dialog displaying both search and replace text side by side. As well, many new options have been added (load from file, use dynamic file, reveal codes, word wrap, etc.)
• Many keyboard shortcuts have been added for common functions.
• You can now specify to perform a case sensitive or a case insensitive exact match search/replace.
• Added option to File Properties to allow for treating a particular file as text. This is useful if the source file might potentially come from a non-Windows machine and your search/replace operations depend on the type of newline character used in the file. (The effect of this option is to ensure the file’s newline is <CR><LF>).
• Updated the help file; added topics and fixed errors.

Changes from version 1.6 to version 1.7:

• The file-processing engine in ReplaceEm has been completely re-written from scratch. Files which contain NULL characters in them (for example, binary files such as EXEs) are no longer corrupted when processed with ReplaceEm. As well, general file processing has been sped up, with serious speed-enhancements when a great many small replacements are done per file, or when you are processing very large files.
• The previous versions had a problem where destination files were not written if the folder they were to be written to did not exists along with its parent folder not existing. This problem has been fixed.
• If you wish to add some individual files to a replace group, you can now do this by simply selecting the files in Explorer, and dragging them into the desired replace group. You will then be prompted to confirm the properties of each file as they are added to the group.

Changes from version 1.51 to version 1.6:

• The program is now distributed as a self-installing EXE, rather than a ZIP file.
• Added a choice for an exact match search method. This lets you search for whole 'words' only. You can also specify what exact match search strings must be delimited by. See the options dialog box (View/Options) for more information.
• There are now two command line options to ReplaceEm: /s and /x. The /s switch will start the replace process as soon as ReplaceEm runs, and the /x switch will exit ReplaceEm immediately after that. So you might start ReplaceEm as follows:
  replacem.exe myfileset.bkr /s /x
• And ReplaceEm would run, load 'myfileset.bkr', start the replacing process using that file set, and then exit when completed.
• Added a choice to skip backing-up files if their associate source files have not been modified. You can also now skip backing-up files if their associated destination files have not been written to for some reason (due to other options specified).
• You now have the option to edit the table of search/replace text in LiveEdit mode. In this mode, each cell becomes editable as soon as you click on it (or move to it with the keyboard), rather than waiting for you to double-click on the cell or press Enter. You can enable this option on the Confirmations tab of the Options dialog box.
• You can now specify if ReplaceEm will prompt you for confirmation when you try to delete a row of search/replace text, a replace group, or a file associated with a replace group. You can also choose to have ReplaceEm prompt you for confirmation when you choose to start a replace session.
• You now have the option to insert a new row of search/replace text between two others (right-click on a cell and choose Insert Row). You can also now delete a row of search/replace text now by hitting the delete key.

Changes from version 1.5 to version 1.51::

• Fixed a bug where using replacement text with a leading {}e (the code for Enter - <CR><LF>), caused it to be interpreted as an insertion at end of file (rather than a replacement). If you used "insert at end" of file in version 1.5, you will need to get rid of the leading enter that was placed there in 1.5, and reapply the "insert at end" option.

Changes from version 1.0 to version 1.5:

• You can now import and export a table of search/replace text for a particular replace group. To do so choose "Import Search/Replace Table..." or "Export Search/Replace Table..." from the File menu. Note that the table must be delimited by Enters (<CR><LF>), as in:
  Search Text 1
  Replace Text 1
  Search Text 2
  Replace Text 2
• You now have many more options in deciding how files are written. For example, you can have the program skip writing files where the destination exists with the same date as the source, or where no changes were made to the source file. You can also specify that destination files are saved with the same date as the source files. For all the new options, choose "Options..." from the View menu.
• You now have the ability to load a file's contents to be used as a search string or a replace string. To do this, click the "Load from File..." button in the Advanced Edit dialog box.
• Along with the ability to replace a search string with a replacement string, you now have the ability to insert a particular string at the beginning or the end of files being processed. To do so, open the Advanced Edit dialog box for a cell of Replacement Text, and choose the desired item from the drop-down list box under the text box.
• Fixed a problem where the replacing process would go into an infinite loop in certain strange cases; particularly when a folder was being processed whose destination was a subfolder of the source. This should now work properly, but it is recommended that you try to stay away from a situation like this since it can lead to some ambiguities.
• Fixed a problem where choosing a source folder with a file filter such as *.htm would also include files with the extension .html.
• Fixed a few other non-serious bugs. Let me know if you encounter any that I have not yet caught! E-mail us at contact@fitsoftware.com.

/OT

Random unrelated note to say that I once had a similar device to the one displayed in ReplacEm site header -- it's a Fujitsu Loox PDA, which I used as a GPS navigator when such gadgets where a novelty -- anyone remember those? I can still glimpse its box from where I am ATM...

I also found the Warranty notice for the neighboring BK Renamer rather amusing:

There isn't any. Make backups. Lots of them.

@ https://web.archive.org/web/20070630112017/http://www.orbit.org/renamer/

[hamasaki]

You can also batch update files in notepad++. You can also batch update using b4Text: http://www.b4soft.ru/b4text/en.index.php

[lintalist]

The novel idea (at the time at least) was that BK ReplacEm was capable of multiple find/replace actions in one session (see the screenshots).

Nearly, if not all, other programs could only perform *one* action at a time which made it very cumbersome.
I recall when looking for something like this there were 50+US$ shareware programs that could only do one that was extremely mediocre at best while this freeware software was extremely capable. (and that shareware program still got rave reviews for reasons beyond me)
(The B4text seems to be ansi only which by today's standards is now mediocre given the prevalence of unicode)

And of course as noted in several posts nearly all modern text editors will be able to do the "one find/replace" action in batch mode nowadays.

Another gem from the time is minitrue viewtopic.php?t=25281 - where you could also prepare a find/replace sort of "ini" making it convenient to use in batch files for example

Code: Select all

"this" = "that"
"regex thingy = "modified replacement"
"etc" = "etcetera"

Here is a nice intro to illustrate its usage https://www.pement.org/sed/minitrue.htm