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palala fog
Inspiring
December 11, 2023
Answered

Grep matching consecutive letters in a list of words

  • December 11, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 683 views

 

across

act

action

active

activist

actor

actress

altricial

altruism
altitude

I need help to know if building this grep is possible. The idea is to identify those words with the 4 (may be 5 or 6) first common letters within an alphabetical list.

I tried something like
       [a-z]{4,}|[A-Z]{4,}|\d{4,}

However, it is  almost absurd and I find it very complex to achieve.

Thanks.

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer FRIdNGE

    … Sure!  😉

     

    (^/)  The Jedi

     

    /*
    _FRIdNGE-0745_BeginningOfPara.jsx
    Script written by FRIdNGE, Michel Allio [11/12/2023]
*/

app.doScript("main()", ScriptLanguage.javascript, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "Beginning Of Para! …");

function main()     
    {
        
        // Name of your Char Style
        var myCharStyle = "red";

        // Place the cursor inside your Story
        var myStory = app.selection[0].parentStory;

        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
        app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "(^.{4,})(?=.*\\r\\1)";
        myFound1 = myStory.findGrep();
        for ( var i = 0; i < myFound1.length; i++ ) {
            app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
            app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "^" + myFound1[i].contents;
            myFound2 = myStory.findGrep();
            for ( var j = 0; j < myFound2.length; j++ ) if ( myFound2[j].characters[0].appliedCharacterStyle.name != myCharStyle ) myFound2[j].appliedCharacterStyle = myCharStyle;
        }
        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;

        alert( "Done! …" )

    }

     

    3 replies

    Peter Kahrel
    Community Expert
    Peter KahrelCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 11, 2023

    This Grep expression matches consecutive words with the first 4-6 letters in common:

    ^([\u\l]{4,6}).+\r(\1.+\r)+

    To clarify:

    ^ stands for beginning of paragraph;

    (

       [\u\l] stands for upper- or lower-case letter; 

       {4,6} restricts the match to between 4 and 6 letters;

    ) 

    .+\r To the end of paragraph

    (

       \1 must match the content of the previous ( )

       then to the end of the paragraph

    )

    + more than once

     

    P
    palala fogAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 11, 2023

    Yes, fine. It is working.
    Very nice replies.

    And if It is possible to insert the accented vowels (áéíóú)?
    May be in another grep and later we can mix the outputs.

    Thanks

    P
    palala fogAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 11, 2023

    Jedi, yes. The script was perfect. I copied it again. Thanks.

    Mr Kahrel, your grep extended the search for 6 letters. I will use it in Jedi's script. Thanks for the aclaration. Both greps are fine.

     

     

    P
    palala fogAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 11, 2023

    Jedi, mercie for this superb script. Please, help us in two points.
    First, this warning message:

     





    Our idea is also to work in Spanish where the point is more interesting. Sabia is an adjective (Wise) and at the same time sabía is the past tense of a verb. Canto is a song and the first person for the verb cantar.


    We would like to know if it is feasible to include these words (with accents).

    Thanks!

    Palala

     

    FRIdNGE
    FRIdNGE
    December 11, 2023

    No error for me!

     

    (^/)

     

    m1b
    Community Expert
    m1bCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 11, 2023

    Hi @palala fog how do you intend to "identify" those characters? A character style?

     

    There are some folk on this forum who are incredible with Grep, so they may have Grep style solution, but my gut tells me that for this case a script might be a good way to go.

    - Mark

    FRIdNGE
    FRIdNGECorrect answer
    December 11, 2023

    … Sure!  😉

     

    (^/)  The Jedi

     

    /*
    _FRIdNGE-0745_BeginningOfPara.jsx
    Script written by FRIdNGE, Michel Allio [11/12/2023]
*/

app.doScript("main()", ScriptLanguage.javascript, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "Beginning Of Para! …");

function main()     
    {
        
        // Name of your Char Style
        var myCharStyle = "red";

        // Place the cursor inside your Story
        var myStory = app.selection[0].parentStory;

        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
        app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "(^.{4,})(?=.*\\r\\1)";
        myFound1 = myStory.findGrep();
        for ( var i = 0; i < myFound1.length; i++ ) {
            app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
            app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "^" + myFound1[i].contents;
            myFound2 = myStory.findGrep();
            for ( var j = 0; j < myFound2.length; j++ ) if ( myFound2[j].characters[0].appliedCharacterStyle.name != myCharStyle ) myFound2[j].appliedCharacterStyle = myCharStyle;
        }
        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;

        alert( "Done! …" )

    }

     

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