Columns, Numbers

This section is up to date for TED Notepad version 6.3.1.0.
Control page Control:feature:Columns, Numbers

Columns, Numbers... (Alt+Ctrl+Y)

Cuts portions of lines from the selection and replaces the old lines with new generated lines according to given Output mask. The Output mask may contain any text, which is duplicated to every new generated line, and may include these special variables, which are computed on the fly and have the following purpose:

• %0 — inserts a copy of the entire original line.
• %1 - %9 — inserts a line portion, cut from the original line according to rules specified in corresponding tab. See below.
• %d — inserts a decimal number from the Counter. See below.
• %x — inserts a lower case hexadecimal number from the Counter. See below.
• %X — inserts an upper case hexadecimal number from the Counter. See below.
• %b — inserts a binary number from the Counter. See below.
• %o — inserts an octal number from the Counter. See below.
• %r — inserts a random number from the Random number generator. See below.
• %l0 — inserts length, in characters, of the original line.
• %l1 - %l9 — inserts length of a line portion, cut from the original line according to rules specified in corresponding tab. See below.
• %n — inserts a newline. Note: This variable results in generating sequence of multiple lines for each of the input lines.
• %% — inserts a single % character. Note: Since % character is used to prefix variables, doubled %% must be used in order to place plain % into the results. Note: Using a simple % character, not followed by a recognized variable, is considered an error in the Output mask to prevent possible inconvenience from future improvements of the tool.. ;)

All variables (except %n) may be supplied an aligning specifier. Aligning specifier must appear directly after the % prefix character. It is used to align values of the variable into a neat fixed-width column. Width of such column is determined by examining the variable for all lines and taking the longest length. Aligning specifier may be one of the following:

• < — aligns the variable to the left, using spaces to fill the shorter lines from right.
• ! — aligns the variable to the center, using spaces to fill the shorter lines from both sides.
• > — aligns the variable to the right, using spaces to fill the shorter lines from left.
• + — aligns the variable to the right, using zeros to fill the shorter lines from left.

Note: Aligning a variable into a fixed-width column does not necessarily guarantee a neat visual column in the results. There are two reasons for having the column scattered in the results:

• If proportional font is used for text displaying, it may render different characters with different extents, resulting in different visual positions of respective character positions.
• If multiple variables are used in the Output mask, all of them should include an aligning specifier to ensure nothing else but neat aligned columns in the results. This is because variable alignment is computed separately for each variable, and is thus insensitive to other portions of currently generated line. Therefore, if one variable results in a non-fixed-width column, there is no guaranteed way to ensure further visual column alignment (although variables themselves would continue to get aligned neatly into their own private columns).

Some variables require a Counter to be defined. The tool uses Start number to initialize the Counter before processing the selection. Then, for each line of the selection, increments the Counter by a Step.

Note: Counter always produces the same number for the same line, even if used multiple times per line.

Some variables require a Random number generator. The generator produces decimal numbers between Min and Max (inclusive) every time a variable requires a random number.

Note: Unlike Counter, Random number generator produces a different number each time it is used, even if used multiple times for the same line.

Note: Random number generator expects the Min to be less than Max. If Min is greater or equal to Max, numbers between 0 and 4294967295 are generated.

Warning: Although the tool uses a more complex pseudo-random generator (than a linear congruential generator), it is not safe to assume that the generator is cryptographically secure. This tool should not be used for encryption purposes if real sturdy protection is expected, since the pseudo-random generator is not constructed to withstand real cryptanalysis. It is only safe to assume that the generator is not easily predictable without advanced cryptanalysis — which is acceptable for most common tasks.

Optionally, Modify non-empty lines only can be used to keep all empty lines intact by this tool.

Note: The Preview option can be used to toggle on/off Preview pane. Preview pane shows a small portion of lines transformed by values currently set in the tool dialog. Be aware that preview is always generated from the current selection. If there is no selection, then there is nothing to preview. Also, since only a small portion of the selection is used for preview, alignment of columns is computed for that portion only (excluding the rest of the selection), which may result in shorter lines.

Cutting line portion

Cutting portion of a line is divided into two successive parts. First, columns are cut from the line, by either:

• Entire line, which keeps the entire original line.
• Columns, which allows to specify one or more subsequent columns between columns from and columns to (inclusive). Individual columns are separated by characters from Delimiting characters, which means that the line is scanned for these delimiting characters, and wherever a delimiting character is found (any character from Delimiting characters), old column ends before this delimiter and a new column begins after this delimiter. There can be as many delimiting characters as necessary and all of them delimit columns equally and indiscriminately.
  • Optionally, Delimit by entire phrase rather than separate characters can be used to stop treating Delimiting characters as a set of individual characters, and scan for an entire delimiting phrase instead.
  • Optionally, Treat any sequence of delimiters as single delimiter can be used to count several successive delimiters as a single delimiter. This can be useful, for example, if input columns are aligned by spaces into neat visual columns, where each two columns are delimited by an arbitrary-length sequence of spaces. Such sequences need to be treated as indivisible column delimiters.
    • Note that even different delimiting characters are treated as a single indivisible delimiter, if found in sequence.
  • Optionally, Calculate columns backwards: from right to left can be used to numerate the columns from the end of line rather than the usual way. Note, however, that this only affects how the columns are numbered before they are cut; the text of the columns is not reversed.
  • Note: Delimiters are not included within the column being cut. However, if two or more subsequent columns are cut together, inner delimiters are not removed and become part of the line portion being cut.
  • Note: Delimiting characters are always case sensitive.
  • Examples: A line HELLO WORLD would be divided into:
    • two columns (HELLO and WORLD) — if delimited by a Space character;
    • four columns (H, LL,  W and RLD) — if delimited by a set of EO characters;
    • four columns (HE, {empty}, O WOR and D) — if delimited by an L character;
      • but only three columns (HE, O WOR and D) — if Treat any sequence of delimiters as single delimiter option is turned on;
    • and only one column (HELLO WORLD) — if delimited by an X character, lower case e character, or if delimited by no characters — this is because none of these characters are found on the examined line.

Note: Columns are cut for each line separately, therefore the total number of columns on a line may vary from line to line. If specified column number is beyond the total number of columns, empty zero-length portion is cut for such column from that line. Therefore, it is allowed to cut columns 2-7, even though some lines do not have enough columns to offer.

After the first part (cutting columns from the line), the resulting portion of the line can be further cropped by turning Use only characters option on, and specifying a range of character positions between from position and to position. This cuts off everyting before the from position and everyting after the to position.

• Calculate the position backwards: from right to left can be used to numerate the character positions from the end of line rather than the usual way. Note, however, that this only affects how the positions are numbered before they are cropped; the text itself is not reversed.

Note: Range of character positions is always cropped after columns are cut. If a range is specified beyond currently cut columns, empty zero-length portion is cropped from that line, even if the original line continues after the cut columns. In other words, range of character positions cannot bring back what has already been cut off by previous step.

Note: There is currently no way to cut columns after cropping a range of character positions.

Note: Column preview button displays a small portion of lines transformed by current dialog values. Be aware that preview is always generated from the current selection. If there is no selection, then there is nothing to preview.

Examples

In the examples below, we use the following input text:

Example:

No;Name;Race;Age 1;Amy;labrador;4 2;Konie;bordercollie;3 3;Kvido;mongrel;2

Simple numbering

Example of a simple numbering Output mask: %+d, %1. This mask will cut a line portion (specified for variable %1) from each line and place it in the results after a decimal number, colon and a space. The numbers will be neatly aligned to the right by leading zeroes where necessary, in order to have the same count of digits.

The variable %1 cuts the third column (columns separated by ; delimiter) and the Counter is set to Start: 1 and Step: 1:

1, Race 2, labrador 3, bordercollie 4, mongrel

Columnizing trick

Example of a columnizing Output mask: %<1 | %2. If variable %1 cuts the first line column, and the variable %2 cuts the rest of the line, this mask can be used to visually columnize the list from the example above. This is done by aligning the variable %1 (the first column) to the left, adding a glue like  | , and then appending the rest of the line. However, since this would columnize the first column only, one needs to invoke this tool several times in a row, until all columns are transformed. The main reason to do it this way is that it can columnize quite many columns very quickly once this is set up correctly.

Note: Make sure not to use the same delimiter for new columns that is used for old columns. Doing so would result in columnizing the first column over and over again. The main idea in this trick is to make the tool work subsequently thru all old columns, converting them into new columns one by one. The tool may not be allowed to confuse new and old columns, or it won't pan out. In this example, old columns are delimited by ; while new columns are delimited by  | , which is mutually exclusive as required.

The variable %1 cuts column 1 (columns separated by ;), variable %2 cuts columns 2-4 (separated by ; as well). After using this tool for 3 times:

No | Name | Race | Age 1 | Amy | labrador | 4 2 | Konie | bordercollie | 3 3 | Kvido | mongrel | 2

Note: The example above only works for aligning to the left. To align to the right, columnizing backwards must be applied, from the last column to the first (i.e. the principle of working thru columns must be reversed). There is no way to center the columns this way (though one can always cut each column separately into a different variable and then specify a mask, which enumerates all the variables).

Tip: Persistent selection setting might come handy for this technique. See chapter Tools page of the Settings dialog for more details.