Re: Converting space-aligned text

Subject: Re: Converting space-aligned text
From: Mike Starr <mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com>
To: 'techwr-l List' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:59:50 -0600

Microsoft Word

Do a search for <space>{2,80} (that's literally a space, not the word space enclosed in angle brackets) with the *Use wildcards* checkbox enabled and replace with ^t. That'll replace any occurrence of anywhere from two to 80 spaces with a single tab character.

Mike
--
Mike Starr WriteStarr Information Services
Technical Writer - Online Help Developer - Technical Illustrator
Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - MS Office Expert
(262) 694-1028 - mike -at- writestarr -dot- com - http://www.writestarr.com

Victoria Wroblewski wrote:
> All,
>
> We've got a monster of a plain text file that is generated from our
> equipment that we need to format into something more professional
> looking. Basically, it spits out data that we want to format to look
> something like the following:
>
> 6.20 x.xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 6.21 x = x.x
> 6.22 x.xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 6.23 x = x.x
> 6.24 xx.xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx
> 6.25 x = x.x
>
> The problem is that it spits this out as a text file with everything
> spaced using spaces, and not tabs. Makin' it pretty means going in and
> manually converting various lengths of spaces into tabs, or aligning it
> all with spaces (and it's been a "six of one, half a dozen of the other"
> experience using either method).
>
> Are there any tools out there that can deal with helping to convert this
> kind of stuff? I haven't been able to find a way to automate the
> removal of the spaces, since they can be different on each line, but I
> don't know if this type of edit is common enough where someone has put
> together any sort of application that will even do something like
> convert areas with more than two spaces into a tab rather than spaces.
>
> Anyone??
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Victoria Wroblewski
> Developer - Technical Documentation
> Eagle Test Systems, Inc.
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References:
Exempt status for Tech Writers: From: beelia
Re: Exempt status for Tech Writers: From: Gregory P Sweet
Converting space-aligned text: From: Victoria Wroblewski

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