Grep matching consecutive letters in a list of words

[palala fog]

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.

[m1b]

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 · Accepted solution]

… 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! …" )

    }

[palala fog]

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]

No error for me!

(^/)

[Peter Kahrel]

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

[palala fog]

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

[palala fog]

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.