I get text from tyros who separate paragraphs using 2 enters, rather than using styles. I’m supposed to format them for publication. Using find & replace with regular expressions active finds a single $, but not two $$.
Q: How can I find blank paragraphs?
MS Windows 10
5.0.1.2
writer
With Regular expressions checked, search for ^$. Replace with -nothing-.
This works great, thank you!
LO Writer search/replace is well-nigh useless.
The well-recommended Alternative search-replace extension has not been updated since Jan 21, 2014 & is declared as suitable for lo-4.1. I’ve no idea how it performs under 5.0.
If you decide to code a macro, the following will help:
These are the Unicode chars used for new line/paragraph/page entry:
- New Line: (U+000A) LINE FEED (LF)
- New Paragraph: (U+000D) CARRIAGE RETURN (CR)
- New Page: (U+000C) FORM FEED (FF)
Entering a LF char ((
kbd:):Shift+Enter) will start a newline in the same paragraph (or bullet-point), whilst entering a CR char ((kbd:):Enter) will start a newline but also a new paragraph. Entering a FF char ((kbd:):Ctrl+Enter) will start a newline, new paragraph + new page all at the same time.
Thus, if you write yourself a search/replace macro you will be looking for 2 consecutive CR chars & replacing them with a single CR char.
Have fun!
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http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extension-center/alternative-dialog-find-replace-for-writer is a very nice extension which easily allows searching for double paragraph marks (\p\p) or series of empty paragraphs (^$\p*). It also features a drop down list of regular extensions (and properties) for those of us who don’t remember which regular expression to use. I use it (often) with L.O. 4.4.5.2, no personal experience with the new release.
Re Alternative search extension:
Tentatively (since I have not tried it pre v5.0) it may be OK under LO5.0
(In the last half-hour I thought the opposite!)