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Barb Binder
Barb Binder
Community Expert
November 18, 2021
Answered

What is the tab character in REGEX?

  • November 18, 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 15825 views

Hello FrameMaker friends:

 

I'm trying to find/change a series of spaces to tabs. The problem space always follows an R and four digits. For example,

R0000 followed by a space needs to be R0000 followed by a tab

 

So, this

locates the string but adds back in as R0000t and not R0000>.

 

Looking it up, \t is the REGEX character for a tab. What am I missing?

 

TIA,

~Barb

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer frameexpert

    Barb, try this for your tab: \x08

    6 replies

    Barb Binder
    Barb BinderAuthor
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2021

    Thanks, all! 😊

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    K.Daube
    K.Daube
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2021

    This is a very old problem, because FM uses x08 as TAB character, whereas the ANSI definition is x09.

    It may well be that \t is implemented as x09...

    At least in ExtendScript RegEx \t handles the TAB character of FM correctly.

    My tests in 15.0.8.979 (aka 2019) show this:

    • \t is found in text by Simple Search, Wildcards and Regular expression
    • \t is not honoured in the replacement of the RegEx  Search which is IMHO a bug

    Tests in 16.0.3.979 (aka 2020) show this:

    • \t is found in text by Simple Search, Wildcards and Regular expression
    • \t is not honoured in the replacement . It is even worse: finding Question and replacing this with $1\t yields the single character t !!! I have reported this as bug 11044

    Edit

    From the reported bug only the part concerning handling of the TAB (\t) is correct.

    Ah, I really become old: $1 requires that the find expression contains at least one group ...

      W
      Winfried Reng
      Community Expert
      November 19, 2021

      Hi Barb,

       

      You can also copy a tab from your document and paste it into the Change field.

      Then FrameMaker will replace with a tab correctly.

       

      Best regards

       

      Winfried

        S
        Community Manager
        Stefan GentzCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        November 18, 2021

        Might be a bug.

        This works: $1\u0008

          Barb Binder
          Barb BinderAuthor
          Community Expert
          November 18, 2021

          Thank you, Rick! 😊

           

          ~Barb

          ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
          frameexpert
          frameexpertCorrect answer
          Community Expert
          November 18, 2021

          Barb, try this for your tab: \x08

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