Copying or Cutting Selected Parts of Consecutive Lines?

[jdanniel]

Hello, I have a question about Libre Office’s Writer.

With Microsoft Word, if I want to cut or copy a section of text on different lines, I use the ALT key and then highlight the text.

Let me try to elaborate on what I mean.

Beatles – Abbey Road

Beatles – Help

Beatles – Sgt. Pepper

Beatles – Revolver

If I wanted to cut or copy only the album titles in the above list, I press ALT and then highlight the album titles. I can then copy or cut them. Is there a Libre Office equivalent to this feature?

Thank you! J. Danniel

[Grantler]

@jdanniel

I press ALT and then highlight the album titles.

If I understand your question the right way…: One could do the same on LibreOffice Writer when pressing the CTRL key during selecting different parts of the text. Also in tables (latest versions).

[EarnestAl]

I find that, on Windows 11, I sometimes need to use the right-hand Alt key, AltGr

Or click Edit > Selection mode > Block area (Alt+Shift+F8)
Cheers
Al

[LeroyG]

@jdanniel

use the ALT key and then highlight the text.

The same is valid for LibreOffice (7.4 and 7.5).

@EarnestAl

Edit > Selection mode > Block area (Alt+Shift+F8)

Also could select Block selection in the status bar.

Since the last line (in your sample) is not the longer one To select the fourth line, you must drag onto the fifth line to the right of the longer one line (the first in this sample), then return to the fourth.

[Nexodakis]

Hello. If the text you want to remove is always preceded by an en dash (–), you can use regular expressions.

Edit → Find and Replace

Find: .*– (with a space after –)
Replace: (nothing)

[✓] Regular expression

Find All (to check what will be deleted)
Replace All (if it’s OK)

You can adapt this solution to other simple patterns.

Make sure you have a backup of your file, just in case.

List of Regular Expressions - https://help.libreoffice.org

[jdanniel]

All of the suggestions worked. Libre Office uses the ALT keystroke the same way as Word.
Thank you for your responses and assistance.