Transpose function in Notepad++

Question

I have a text file as:

0xC1,0x80,
0x63,0x00,
0x3F,0x80,
0x01,0xA0,

I want output as:

Line1: 0xC1,0x63,0x3F,0x01,
Line2: 0x80,0x00,0x80,0xA0,

How to do this using replace function in Notepad++?

Chopfallen

I'm not sure it is possible with N++. You'd better use a script to do such tranformation. – Weary

Answer 1

You can use the below shortcuts to do the transpose in Notepad ++

 Step 1: Ctrl + A: selects all.
 Step 2: Ctrl + J: Transpose the Row you selected

Modest

Thanks for sharing this tip as earlier tip to use the replace with regex \r\n did not work. Ctrl+J work for my npp v7.8.6 (64 bit on win10 enterprise) and in another npp v7.6.4 (win server 2019 deployed by IT to use in citrix) – Thermosiphon

Note that Ctrl + J is the Edit > Line Operations > Join Lines option. The Find and Replace answer from @Noel is more general and can be preferred in most cases. – Yardage

Answer 2

1. Use the box select feature to select the second column text.
   • Use Alt+Shift+Arraw keys to select the second column.
2. Copy the selected text to a new file.
3. Use Find/Replace to remove all the newline characters.
   • Ctrl+F to open find/replace dialog box.
   • Select either Extended or Regular Expression Serach mode.
   • Type \r\n in Find What box.
   • Keep the Replace with box blank.
   • Click on Replace All in ALL Open Documents.
   • Now, the text is brought in single line.
4. Copy the text from second file and paste it to second line of first file.

Cheers...

Critique

Answer 3

There is no built-in function in Notepad++ for transposing a matrix and you can't do it using Replace (as M42 pointed out). Also, I'm not aware of any related plugin. So you will either need a different editor or do it with a script. The simplest solution I guess using a Spreadsheet, eg Excel or OpenOffice, both of them allow you to easily transpose a table.

But, there's still a good alternative without leaving Notepad++. Is to use the Python Script plugin.

Setup Python Script plugin

1. Install Python Script plugin, from Plugin Manager or from the official website.
2. When installed, go to Plugins > Python Script > New Script. Choose a filename for your new script (eg transpose.py) and copy the first code block that follows and copy the second one to another script, called for example transpose_uneven.py.
3. Open your data file and then run Plugins > Python Script > Scripts > transpose.py. This will open a new tab with your data transposed.

transpose.py

delimiter=","
newline="\n"
content=editor.getText()
matrix=[line.split(delimiter) for line in content.rstrip(newline).split(newline)]
transposed=list(map(list, zip(*matrix)))
notepad.new()
for line in transposed:
    editor.addText(delimiter.join(line) + newline)
if len(transposed)!=len(matrix[0]):
    console.clear()
    console.show()
    console.write("Warning: some rows are of uneven length. You might consider using the transpose_uneven script instead.")

transpose_uneven.py

import itertools    
delimiter=","
newline="\n"    
content=editor.getText()
matrix=[line.split(delimiter) for line in content.rstrip(newline).split(newline)]
transposed=list(map(list, itertools.izip_longest(*matrix, fillvalue="")))
notepad.new()
for line in transposed:
    editor.addText(delimiter.join(line) + newline)

Examples

The transpose.py script will transpose the following example:

0xC1,0x80,
0x63,0x00,
0x3F,0x80,
0x01,0xA0,

To:

0xC1,0x63,0x3F,0x01
0x80,0x00,0x80,0xA0
,,,

If some of your rows are uneven:

0xC1,0x80,
0x63,0x00,
0x3F,0x80,
0x01,0xA0,
0x02

The uneven columns will be discarded accordingly:

0xC1,0x63,0x3F,0x01,0x02

If this is not desired, use transposed_uneven.py and it will return:

0xC1,0x63,0x3F,0x01,0x02
0x80,0x00,0x80,0xA0,
,,,,

Burney

Answer 4

If you really have such a fixed format and need such a fixed output i normally try it with an instant macro.

So my cursor is in the top left corner of the file ready to manipulate and i press the record button (or within the menu bar Macro - Start recording).

In you specific case now press:

• End
• Del
• Pos1
• ↓

End hit the stop button (or within the menu bar Macro - Stop recording).

Now for a first test hit the playback button (or within the menu bar Macro - Playback) and test if it works. If yes click on Macro - Run a macro multiple times and select Run until the end of file.

Paulina