[OS X TeX] Find and replace with regular expressions

[Art Werschulz]

Hi.

On Nov 19, 2007, at 11:24 AM, Matthew Leingang wrote:

>>> TeXShop has regular expression support built in.  So you can open  
>>> up a find window,
>>> put this in the search box
>>>
>>> 	\$([^$]+)\$
>>>
>>> and this in the replace box
>>>
>>> 	\\(\1\\)
>>>
>>> make sure you click "Regular Expressions," and go.
>>
>> This has some flaws.  You need negative look-behind assertions in  
>> the search, because you don't want to pick up the \$ of
>>
>>     Acme sells widgets for \$5.00 a unit. The cost to produce $x$  
>> widgets is $2x-0.03 x^2$ dollars.
>
> Indeed, my original response pointed out that very flaw, and  
> others.  But I wanted to give an answer which would probably work  
> for a lot of the document, and if he wanted to (learn enough to)  
> tweak the regex he could, or just find the rest manually, he'd  
> still save a lot of work.
>
> Is there any regex that's going to work 100% of the time?.  How  
> would you fix the text
>
> 	Acme sells widgets for \$5.00 a unit.  The cost to produce $x$  
> widgets is $\$(2x-0.03 x^2)$.

You'd need to make sure that the dollar signs aren't preceded by  
backslashes.  So if you replace "$" by "[^\\]$" in the original  
regexp, you should be okay.  Please note that I have not tested this  
out, and so it may need tweaking.  Don't try this on your only copy  
of the file!!!

Art Werschulz (8-{)}   "Metaphors be with you."  -- bumper sticker
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