Is there a way to find both alphabets, with and without accents, when searching?

Troglo37

Another issue I’ve been dealing with is letters with accents. Many times I’ve searched for a name and couldn’t find it. Later on, I realized that it was because the name had an accent. So, I’ve had to painstakingly go through some of the names I have typed in and change the letters.

I want to be able to copy and paste names without worrying about accents, and preferably have the correct spelling of the person’s name if they have accents.

Coises

@Troglo37 said:

Another issue I’ve been dealing with is letters with accents. Many times I’ve searched for a name and couldn’t find it. Later on, I realized that it was because the name had an accent. So, I’ve had to painstakingly go through some of the names I have typed in and change the letters.

I want to be able to copy and paste names without worrying about accents, and preferably have the correct spelling of the person’s name if they have accents.

It has been requested before. At present there is a way, but not a convenient way.

To search for a name like René you can use the following form as a regular expression:
[[=r=]][[=e=]][[=n=]][[=e=]]

Yes, it’s a pain in the butt. Maybe someday someone will make a simple switch for it. (Note to self: my still-in-progress Search++ plugin should have that as an option for plain text searches.)

Troglo37

@Coises How and where do I put that?

guy038

Hello, @troglo37, @coises and All,

@troglo37, you said :

@Coises How and where do I put that?

Well, I’ll give you a general method which :

Firstly, change any stream selection, in a regex build with equivalence class expressions
Secondly, find any text which satisfy the complete list of these equivalent classes

First, we are going to add the macro, described below, within your active shortcut.xml file, right before the line containing </Macros>

        <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
            <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(\w)" />
            <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1[[=$0=]]:$0)" />
            <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" />
        </Macro>

Reminder :

If you installed N++ with an installer package, your active shortcuts.xml file should be within the folder %AppData%\Notepad++
If you installed N++ with a portable package, your active shortcuts.xml file should be along with the Notepad++.exe file, in your install folder
You may also define a shortcut for this Global Search macro, by opening the Settings > Shortcut Mapper... > Macros tab and double-clicking on the Global Search line !

Now :

Close and restart Notepad++
Paste the French text, below, in a new tab ( I rewrote the same French text in different cases ! )

C'est là, près de la forêt, dans un gîte, où régnait un grand capharnaüm, que l'aïeul ôta sa flûte et son bâton de son canoë
C'EST LÀ, PRÈS DE LA FORÊT, DANS UN GÎTE, OÙ RÉGNAIT UN GRAND CAPHARNAÜM, QUE L'AÏEUL ÔTA SA FLÛTE ET SON BÂTON DE SON CANOË
C'est Là, Près De La Forêt, Dans Un Gîte, Où Régnait Un Grand Capharnaüm, Que L'aïeul Ôta Sa Flûte Et Son Bâton De Son Canoë
C'Est Là, près DE LA FORêT, dAns Un gÎte, OÙ rÉgNaIT Un GRaND cAPHaRnaÜM, QUE L'aïEul ôta sa flÛtE et sON bÂTon de soN caNoË

Switch to that new tab
Select all the contents of the very first line
Run the Macro > Global Search macro

You should get, at once, this selected OUTPUT

[[=C=]]'[[=e=]][[=s=]][[=t=]] [[=l=]][[=à=]], [[=p=]][[=r=]][[=è=]][[=s=]] [[=d=]][[=e=]] [[=l=]][[=a=]] [[=f=]][[=o=]][[=r=]][[=ê=]][[=t=]], [[=d=]][[=a=]][[=n=]][[=s=]] [[=u=]][[=n=]] [[=g=]][[=î=]][[=t=]][[=e=]], [[=o=]][[=ù=]] [[=r=]][[=é=]][[=g=]][[=n=]][[=a=]][[=i=]][[=t=]] [[=u=]][[=n=]] [[=g=]][[=r=]][[=a=]][[=n=]][[=d=]] [[=c=]][[=a=]][[=p=]][[=h=]][[=a=]][[=r=]][[=n=]][[=a=]][[=ü=]][[=m=]], [[=q=]][[=u=]][[=e=]] [[=l=]]'[[=a=]][[=ï=]][[=e=]][[=u=]][[=l=]] [[=ô=]][[=t=]][[=a=]] [[=s=]][[=a=]] [[=f=]][[=l=]][[=û=]][[=t=]][[=e=]] [[=e=]][[=t=]] [[=s=]][[=o=]][[=n=]] [[=b=]][[=â=]][[=t=]][[=o=]][[=n=]] [[=d=]][[=e=]] [[=s=]][[=o=]][[=n=]] [[=c=]][[=a=]][[=n=]][[=o=]][[=ë=]]

Immediately, open the Find dialog ( Ctrl + F )

=> The selected text has populated the search field

Make sure that none of the checkboxes are checked
Just check the Wrap around option
Select the Regular expression search mode
Click on the Find Next or Find All in Current Document button

=> It should matches, successively, the four lines of the new bab

I supppse that’s your expected result !

Best Regards,

guy038

FYI, My test sentence—which has no real meaning but displays all the accented French characters—can be translated into American - English as :

It was there, near the forest, in a cabin that was in a state of utter chaos, that the grandfather took his flute and his walking stick out of his canoe

PeterJones

@Troglo37 said:

@Coises How and where do I put that?

Find/Replace dialog, Find What. And set Search Mode = Regular Expression

dr ramaanand

He has to hit Ctrl+F on the keyboard or use the drop-down from the Menu bar on top to open that dialogue

dr ramaanand

@guy038 said:

[[=C=]]‘[[=e=]][[=s=]][[=t=]] [[=l=]][[=à=]], [[=p=]][[=r=]][[=è=]][[=s=]] [[=d=]][[=e=]] [[=l=]][[=a=]] [[=f=]][[=o=]][[=r=]][[=ê=]][[=t=]], [[=d=]][[=a=]][[=n=]][[=s=]] [[=u=]][[=n=]] [[=g=]][[=î=]][[=t=]][[=e=]], [[=o=]][[=ù=]] [[=r=]][[=é=]][[=g=]][[=n=]][[=a=]][[=i=]][[=t=]] [[=u=]][[=n=]] [[=g=]][[=r=]][[=a=]][[=n=]][[=d=]] [[=c=]][[=a=]][[=p=]][[=h=]][[=a=]][[=r=]][[=n=]][[=a=]][[=ü=]][[=m=]], [[=q=]][[=u=]][[=e=]] [[=l=]]’[[=a=]][[=ï=]][[=e=]][[=u=]][[=l=]] [[=ô=]][[=t=]][[=a=]] [[=s=]][[=a=]] [[=f=]][[=l=]][[=û=]][[=t=]][[=e=]] [[=e=]][[=t=]] [[=s=]][[=o=]][[=n=]] [[=b=]][[=â=]][[=t=]][[=o=]][[=n=]] [[=d=]][[=e=]] [[=s=]][[=o=]][[=n=]] [[=c=]][[=a=]][[=n=]][[=o=]][[=ë=]]

That has accented alphabets but it should have unaccented alphabets to find all alphabets, including unaccented alphabets.

dr ramaanand

@guy038 @peterjones Please change the title of this thread from, “Is There A Way To Ignore Letters With Accents When Searching?” to, “Is there a way to find both alphabets with and without accents when searching?” - right now, it gives the opposite meaning of the solution sought. An explanation for this type of solution can be found at https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/27449/search-accented-and-non-accented-characters-alike-with-one-simple-setting

guy038

Hello, @troglo37, @coises, @peterjones, @dr-ramaanand and All,

Préamble :

@troglo37, on demand of @dr-ramaanand, I changed your initial title :

Is There A Way To Ignore Letters With Accents When Searching?

by this new title, which seems more acurrate :

Is there a way to find both alphabets, with and without accents, when searching?

Thank you, @dr-ramaanand, for reminding me of this interesting post, which uses a more general, but more accurate, definition of accented characters !

Indeed, an accented character , let’s say the é character, may be described as :

The character é LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE, of Unicode value 00E9
The character e LATIN SMALL LETTER E, of Unicode value 0065, followed with the character ́ COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT, of Unicode value 0301

Note that, in this second form, the letter e is the main character of an \X sequence and the accent(s), coming next, are the subsequent chars of this \X sequence !

So, the macro, described in my previous post, should be changed as :

        <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
            <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?=\X)(.)|(?!\X)." />
            <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1\(\?=[[=$1=]]\)\\X)" />
            <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" />
        </Macro>

And it means that :

If the current character found is a single character OR the main character of a current \X sequence, it must be replaced with the string (?=[[=$1=]])\X, where $1 represents the current char
If the current character found is an subsequent character of the current \X sequence, thus an accent, it must just be deleted as its main character has been previously taken in account

So, let’s consider the following text, pasted in a new tab :

C'est là, près de la forêt, dans un gîte, où régnait un grand capharnaüm, que l'aïeul ôta sa flûte et son bâton de son canoë
C'est là, près de la forêt, dans un gîte, où régnait un grand capharnaüm, que l'aïeul ôta sa flûte et son bâton de son canoë

Note that, within the first line, the accented characters are single chars whereas, within the second line, the accentued chars are unaccented vowels followed with an accent character

If we apply our modified Global Search macro against the first line of this new tab, we get this regex :

(?=[[=C=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=à=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=è=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=ê=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=î=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=ù=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=é=]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=h=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=ü=]])\X(?=[[=m=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=q=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=ï=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=ô=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=û=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=b=]])\X(?=[[=â=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=ë=]])\X

Which does match the two lines of the new tab !

And if we apply our Global Search macro against the second line of this new tab, we get this regex :

(?=[[=C=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=ù=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=g=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=p=]])\X(?=[[=h=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=r=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=m=]])\X(?=[[=,=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=q=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[='=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=i=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=f=]])\X(?=[[=l=]])\X(?=[[=u=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=b=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=t=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=d=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=s=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[= =]])\X(?=[[=c=]])\X(?=[[=a=]])\X(?=[[=n=]])\X(?=[[=o=]])\X(?=[[=e=]])\X

Which does match, also, the two lines of the new tab !

In conclusion, this method allows you to search for a stream selection of characters, regardless of the syntax of the accented characters within that selection !

Best Regards,

guy038