Using GREP to Format

[davidp96673165]

I have no idea if this is possible or not, have come across and research GREP style for the first time today, and can't seem to find an answer that helps

Are you able to use GREP to format all text in text box?

As an example I have a text box with a large amount of black text, I would like to change the text colour of all text if a certain word, lets say 'Apple' is present anywhere in this text box

Is there a way to define this in the GREP style?

Thanks

[Manan Joshi]

Try the following in your Grep style

(?i).*Apple.*

And apply a new character style with the desired color.

-Manan

[Manan Joshi]

Or better you could even use the following

(?i).*\bApple\b.*

The previous one would apply the character style if apple is found anywhere in the text even within a work like pineapple. But this one will apply only when apple is present as a word. Also both the options are case insensitive. If you want case sensitive match then remove (?i)

-Manan

[davidp96673165]

Thanks for the response @Manan Joshi 

Your solution almost works, I have applied as suggested however it only makes that one paragraph blank, rather then all paragraphs/text in the text box. Any thoughts?

[Scott Falkner]

GREP Sty;es can only affect paragraphs one at a time. The content of one paragraph can’t afect another paragraph.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Are you using Paragraph styles or apply the GREP style directly to the text?

If using Paragraph styles, have you applied the style to all the desired text?

[davidp96673165]

Hi @Dave Creamer of IDEAS, I tried both

What I was looking for is a solution that would change the format of ALL text in a text box, 

When applying it as a paragraph style where

Apply Stlye: Character style 1 - which changes text colour to white

      To Text: (?(?i).*move.*

and using a variable data merge, where some records include the word move. This then removes the paragraph where the variable field is but not the remaining text in the text book

And its not practical to apply the variable field to every paragraph

When applying it as a GREP style directly there is not ability to apply the criteria as above, so all text turns to white but wthout the key logic

Any suggestions on another work around would be greatly appreciated

[Manan Joshi]

Hi @davidp96673165,

Can you try the find/change feature, if yes then you can use the following grep expression

Find What:

(?i)((\n|\r|.)*\bApple\b(\n|\r|.)*)

Change to:

$1

And use the change format option to apply the character style that changes the color. See the screengrab of it working.

-Manan

[davidp96673165]

That does work mate

Not the dynamic solution I am trying to get to but as a permanent change it works.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I suspect the paragraph style is not applied correctly. If you can upload a document to look at, it would be easier to see what is happening. 

[davidp96673165]

Hi @Dave Creamer of IDEAS 

Have attached an example InDesign file and data for data merge that I have been using.

Thanks

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You only had the basic paragraph style used. I don't know if it was just for this example or not, but you should create your own custom styles and avoid using that one.

Anyway, the problem was you had overrides to your style. Notice the little plus sign [+] next to the Basic Paragraph style when put your cursor in the text. Remove the overrides using the button at the bottom and it worked. (Select the text first.)

Note that the character style is set to apply the color "none". This will hide the text but still leave a big gap in the text block. 

[davidp96673165]

Thanks for the adivce, but yes only had the basic style for this example

Yes I had an override on the style so I could see the field in question to ensure it was working correctly. 

What I am searching for is a solution that will hide ALL 5 paragraphs not just the one that contains the field in question.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

ALL the paragraphs would have to contain the word that triggers the GREP code.

You might want to look at a database plugin that has if/else logic. There are multiple plugins, but I've InData.

[FRIdNGE]

If your target is the word "FRIdNGE" (or "fridnge" or "FRIDNGE"), use a F/R [a Grep style won't work here!]:

Find: (?si).*\bFRIdNGE\b.*

(^/)  The Jedi

[FRIdNGE]

Addendum:

If the target-word could be included too (you talked about "data merging") at the end of the text, directly in the source-csv (I've keeped the sample-word "TAX" in blue but the 2nd Grep Style will make it invisible), so, sure, totally automatic with 2 grep styles, even if "TAX" is not in some paras!  😉

As:

(^/)

[davidp96673165]

Thats exactly what I am looking for. Can you please share how you were able to make it work?

[davidp96673165]

@FRIdNGE 

Just a friendly bump. Anyone able to help as to how this is achieved, spent a lot of time replicating but have not been able to achieve the same above results. What help massively if you could assist. Thanks

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You could also separate the paragraphs with line breaks (shift-returns), effectively turning it into one large paragraph. 

[davidp96673165]

Thanks for the suggested, I spent to looking at soft returns yesterday, but I couldn't get it to work. As soon as i seperated a pararaph (shift+enter) the text would change back