RGdot

Tag: regular expressions

  • Siren: Infinite Ways To Rename And Organize Files

    Siren (Version: 3.01) is a freeware file renamer, it features many ways to rename, move and copy files using expressions to create renaming rules.

    The expressions can be any in number or combination and use almost any file attribute one can think of. One can change the case, remove parts of the file name, use file paths, extensions, audio file tags, modified dates, checksums and lots more. It can use and read attributes belonging to many audio, video, image and other kinds of files.

    Siren works by loading a folder and checking off or selecting files to work on or alternatively work on all files and subdirectories. The next step would be to click on the right hand side of the Expression text field to add rules. The first (tag icon) presents all the options available, the second (magic wand icon) helps test and build expressions. When done the new file name(s) will be shown and one can click Rename (play icon) to rename the files. The Create copies (fast forward icon) button will create copies first then apply the rename rules.

    The filter option at the top right lets the user filter visible files. Filters can be any combination of file types and regular expressions too. For example to filter down to “jpg”, “bmp” or files beginning with a letter use *.jpg;*.bmp;[A-Z]*

    The Favourites menu lets the user save expressions or rules to re-use later. It is also possible to test the expressions and renaming rules with a “testbed” that is available under the ? menu, the same menu also includes Siren’s detailed help file which includes examples.

    Siren has some command line support, works on Windows XP and newer and doesn’t require installation.

  • DtPad: Interesting Freeware Text Editor

    DtPad: Interesting Freeware Text Editor

    DtPad (Version: 2.7.4.40) is a text editor with an interesting and potentially useful set of features.

    DtPad

    The file menu can open a new document and paste the contents of the clipboard into it automatically. It can open a web page source by typing the address inside DtPad. There are options to save file(s) in zip format, save one as pdf or get or save documents in Dropbox using DtPad’s internal browser.

    The edit menu can append text to existing files and ‘swap’ highlighted text with the contents of the clipboard. One can select text by multiple rows too.

    The view menu is the place to launch the command prompt, hide or show an annotation panel (see image), launch a hexadecimal viewer/editor or a Windows hosts file editor.

    DtPad also has a session feature that is not just save or restore but also can list ‘lost’ (those that were part of a saved session but may not exist anymore) files and more.

    The search feature is a powerful one, options like highlight results are there so are number of occurrences and  find or replace last and next occurrence. All come with regular expressions support. DtPad can also look for patterns like duplicate rows, capitalized words, html tags, IP addresses and email addresses. Not forgetting searching selected or highlighted words using google or wikipedia.

    The actions menu is where tabs (different open files) can be merged and compared, indentation added, rows moved up and down, case converted, html converted to text and vice versa, space converted to tab, date inserted and lots more. Other interesting features like validating html and translating selected text too.

    Options is the menu to toggle word wrap, choose file encoding and font plus export or import DtPad’s settings.

    Tools is the place for launching external programs. Notepad and Internet Explorer are available by default but others can be added.

    DtPad’s side panel has a notes section to keep text or notes that don’t belong in the files themselves, a tab explorer to move or sort open files, a file explorer to navigate and browse the system, a clipboard monitor, a calculator, a calendar, and another location for searching inside files.

    The program settings (Options—>Settings) include options for the looks and feel of the program and others to add DtPad to the Send To, Open With and Windows 7 jump list menus.

    DtPad requires Microsoft Windows XP or newer and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4. It is available in a portable version.

  • TextCrawler Finds and Replaces Text

    TextCrawler Finds and Replaces Text

    TextCrawler is described by its author as

    …TextCrawler enables you to instantly find and replace words and phrases across multiple files and folders..


    TextCrawler
         TextCrawler is simple yet powerful. The first step in using it is choosing a filter for file extensions that are being searched, either from the choices presented or by typing one’s own. The second step is browse to the folder where the files are located. Note that the program’s options has a setting to scan or search subfolders as well. The next step is to type the text to find and the text to replace. TextCrawler supports regular expressions and the star icon beside the Find text area provides some examples for finding such things as dates or IP addresses. The program’s own help files explains regular expressions a bit further. An interesting feature is the ability to find the text being searched for first and then do the replacing after by clicking a separate button, this allows the user to preview all the instances of the found text before moving on. Also the Extract feature allows the user to copy all instances of the found text, this is useful for collecting information based on the search results.
    The program also includes a Batch Commands tool to work with find and replace text pairs. Additionally the regular expression tester, which like the Batch Commands tool is located under the Tools menu, reduces the chances of making a mistake. TextCrawler runs under Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista.