GREP Commands from CS3 to CS6

Report · Feb 13, 2014

Hi All

we got some GREP tags which we copied from InDesign CS3 to InDesign CS6. Is it possible that those tags don't work anymore? we use [[:punct:]] for example, but InDesign don't recognize the input...

Did Adobe made changes in CS6 the GREP process?

Thanks for your support!

Reto

Report · Feb 13, 2014

As far as I know there have been only two changes in InDesign's GREP since CS3: in CS4 the Unicode properties were introduced, and in CS6 two new classes/wildcards: \v (vertical space), which matches \n and \r, and \h (horizontal space), which matches all white space.

InDesign still recognises [[:punct:]] by the way (CS6, CC). Which other Grep items don't work anymore for you?

Peter

Report · Feb 14, 2014

i think only the [[:punct:]] doesn't work anymore...

very strange, maybe i should check that on a different client...

Did you test [[:punct:]] in CS6?

Thanks

Reto

Report · Feb 14, 2014

> Did you test [[:punct:]] in CS6?

yep.

Try deleting InDesign's preferences. Exit InDesign, then start it and hold down Alt+Ctrl+Del (Windows) or the Mac equivalents.

Report · Feb 14, 2014

tried but no success... i just don't understand why the GREP doesn^t work anymore.. here's the string:

(\d+[[:punct:]])\t(.+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+[[:punct:]]\d+\t)(.+)

with this table:

1. Basel 19 9 9 1 35 : 18 36

GREP find's 1 but the point isn't recognized by [[:punct:]]

Report · Feb 14, 2014

It's not [[:punct:]] that's the problem, your expression is wrong. It contains (\d+[[:punct:]]\d+\t), which doesn't match. If complex expressions like yours don't work, break it down into small parts, then build it up.

Did you try the first part, (\d+[[:punct:]]) ? That works fine for me.

Peter

Report · Feb 14, 2014

I did that test as at first and it didn't worked, but now it works fine with the [[:punct:]] don't ask me what i tried first...

the mistake must be in an other part of the string, i have to check that

thanks for youf advice!

Report · Feb 14, 2014

retogreub wrote:
tried but no success... i just don't understand why the GREP doesn^t work anymore.. here's the string:
(\d+[[:punct:]])\t(.+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+[[:punct:]]\d+\t)(.+)
with this table:
1. Basel 19 9 9 1 35 : 18 36
GREP find's 1 but the point isn't recognized by [[:punct:]]

Your Grep cannot work for you.

Try this instead (if you need every part alone):

(\d+[[:punct:]])\t([^\t]+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)([[:punct:]]\t\d+\t)(\d+)

or this (will find the same):

(\d+[[:punct:]])\t(\w+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)([[:punct:]]\t\d+\t)(\d+)

or this:

(\d+\.)\t(\w+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(\d+\t)(:\t\d+\t)(\d+)

Report · Feb 16, 2014

Peter,

I was not aware they have added \v & \h in CS6 and above...

Do you see any situations to use \h instead of \s for any white space?

The \v can be usefull to find both forced return & return, but do you have any example of a good user case for it?

Thanks!

Jean-Claude

Report · Feb 17, 2014

[\r\n] is the equivalent of \v, so \v isn't a very useful addition.

\s matches all white space including \r and \s, \p{Zs} matches all white space except tabs and returns, and \h matches all white space except \r. So you can do things story-wide with white spaces and leave \r alone (and not rely on $).

Peter

Report · Feb 17, 2014

Peter, thanks for the details. Always valuable...