Find and replace text by formatting

[Rogerio5C09]

Hi guys,

I need a script which find/cut the text with "Character Style 1" applied and replace the text "Character Style 2" with that cutted text. Basically, we are just moving the content from one place to another in the document, so a simple cut-paste script would do the work. Also, please make it work across multiple files. I have already created and applied the Character Styles to the two instances, so no needed any fancy options or dialog boxe.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Regards,

Rogerio

[Brito Haroldo]

Hi @Rogerio5C09 .

As I understand it, you want to
a) Locate the ORIGIN "A" (based on the character style already applied); and
b) Move it to DESTINATION "B" (destination located by another character style).

So far, it seems to me that perhaps a find/replace in the GREP tab (by formatting) would solve the issue. Even if it's done manually, it's a big step forward. Although you've already gone to the trouble of applying the styles to both source "A" and destination "B"... why not just apply the correct content...?

Questions:
1) Is the origin A the B or are there other destinations on the way? Like: will occurrence A be sent to the first occurrence B it finds on the way or will it have to "skip" some other occurrence "B"?

2) On arrival, should "A" remain the same CHARACTER STYLE it already has, or should it assume the character style present at destination B?

3) Will the CONTENT of the destination, B, simply be replaced by the content of the arriving A?

I imagine your scenario should be something like this:

"A text <stA>which has character style applied</stA> must be located and its content moved to a destination identified by a character <stB>x</stB> in order for the text to reach its target. But... what if there's another <stB>x</stB> destination on the way? Will our traveling content stay at the first occurrence, or should it simply go elsewhere? The cruel doubt..."

In this example, with tags to simulate the application of character styles, I imagine it should be your scenario.... correct?

Can you give us a bit more context about what you need? Maybe some screenshots of your document...

[Rogerio5C09]

Hi @Brito Haroldo, thanks for checking!

There are only occorrences A (CS1) and B (CS2). The Character Style can remain the same. And yes, the content of the destination B will simply be replaced by A, but the thing is that I have a bunch of documents like that, so I'm looking for a way to automate it.

I'm attaching a sample indd here. Could you please take a look?

@Robert at ID-Tasker  and @brian_p_dts, feel free to give it a shoot as well 🙂

Thanks,
Rogerio

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Rogerio5C09, not sure if conversion went wrong - I'm still on v18 - or your document really looks like this:

OK ... after few seconds of checking your document:

So you want to replace text [LOGO] - on the left - with a graphic representation - on the right?

Maybe it would be easier / better / more convenient to link to an external file?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

If you work on a PC, it would be piece of cake for my ID-Tasker.

Otherwise, as you are mentioning multiple documents - what would be the key for which occurence of CharStyle2 should be replaced with CharStyle1?

[brian_p_dts]

Yeah we'd need to know which specific instances of CS2 to target. Is there some identifer in the text of CS1 that we could use, or as someone else mentioned, is the first instance being replaced by the corresponding first instance? Are they in the same story or different stories?

[Rogerio5C09]

Hi everyone,

The script below is exactly what I need, however I'm having a hard time trying to make it work with multiple open documents. Can anyone take a look and run some tests with the 3 sample INDDs attached? Thx!

for (var d=0; d<app.documents.length; d++)
{
var doc = app.documents[d];

app.findTextPreferences = null;
app.findTextPreferences.appliedCharacterStyle = "Character Style 1";
var found = doc.findText();
for(var i =0;i<found.length;i++)
{
    try{
        found[i].select();
     }catch(e){}
    }
app.findTextPreferences = null;
   
try {
	app.selection[0].texts[0].select();
    app.cut();
} catch (_)
{
    }

app.findTextPreferences = null;
app.findTextPreferences.appliedCharacterStyle = "Character Style 2";
var found = doc.findText();
for(var i =0;i<found.length;i++)
{
    try{
        found[i].select();
     }catch(e){}
    }
app.findTextPreferences = null;
   
try {
	app.selection[0].texts[0].select(SelectionOptions.REPLACE_WITH);
    app.paste();
} catch (_)
{
    }
   }
alert("Done!");

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

I'm on my phone, but looking at the code - it's a bit strange... or am I unable to correctly pair {}??

Both loops are the same:

for(var i =0;i<found.length;i++)

{

    try{

        found[i].select();

     }catch(e){}

     }

but they are just going through all found results - for no reason? Always only the last result will be selected? 

Is it another ChatGPT generated code ?? 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yeah, just checked on my laptop in Notepad2 - this code doesn't make much sense ?!?!