Hi all, I'm looking for some kind of app which can change text strings inside files. Example - I have 10 MAT files which have the line 'KdColor 1 1 1 1' and I want to change this to 'KdColor 0 0 0 1' without opening them all up one at a time to do it. Is there such an app? Free would be even cooler. TIA mac

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Well, you can use WordPad, that is sorta free. ;-) Actually, I do this a lot woth WordPad and/or Word. just make sure your replace line is unique enough. For example, when you have to convert your P4 MATs to ProPack MATs, replace ".bum" with ".jpg", but don't try replacing "bum", as it will replace BUMP MAP with JPGP MAP, Opps!

yes but a batch converter would be much better, I think that is what maclean meant.

I use an old program called "Visual Search and Replace." It's really old, because it comes with both DOS and Windows versions. (Windows 3, I suspect!) It sometimes has trouble with really long lines, but all in all, it works pretty well. I used it mainly for web page design. When I need to change my e-mail address every time it occurs, say, I can do it without having to remember every page I put it it on. Just set it to search all files ending in "*.htm," search all subdirectories, don't confirm changes, GO! I'm sure there must be something more up-to-date now. The ability to do this kind of bulk editing without opening the files is quite useful.

Yes, I'm looking for a batch convertor. I can do individual search and replace in notepad, but only by opening each file. I want to do entire folders without opening anything. I would have thought there would be an html utility somewhere that does this. I mean, it's a pretty common requirement. If I want to change an addy in 100 html pages, I wouldn't want to do them one by one. And css is useless for this, so there must be something that does it. Randym - I'm on win 2k. D'you think Visual S & R will work with it? mac

also .. I'm pretty sure that the program 'Homesite' had this facility but i havent used it for a couple of years, its a popular HTML editor so maybe you have it ? Barrie.

If you're a Windows user, go to Download.com and look for a program called Finders Keepers. There's a 30 day free trial. It might do what you want.

one google later .... maybe this ? : http://www.adsoft-development.com/portfolio/portfolio.php3?cid=5

Attached Link: Visual Search and Replace

Okay, I checked the license, and Visual Search and Replace is shareware. It says distribution is welcome on BBSs and the like. (BBSs! That tells you how old it is!) It asks that you pay $20 if you like it, though I have no idea if the address is still current. So if anyone would like to try it, I've uploaded it to my web space.) It's easy to use. It's meant for use in Windows 3, I think, but I've used it with Win98 and XP. Two problems I've noted: it gives an error message with very long lines. (If there are no end of line markers, I think.) And files edited this way aren't marked as edited by Windows, so even though they are changed, if you sort files by Date Modified, they won't drop to the bottom like you'd expect. Other than that, it's a pretty nifty program.

personally I'd be wary of using a program designed for dos and windows 3 because it may not cope well with long filenames (in those days you were restricted to 8.3 format) Barrie. There are probably a lot of FREE utilities to do this.

Thanks, barriephillips! That free adsoft program is just right. I'd been wanting one of these for years, but never wanted it quite enough to build my own. The "ignore whitespace" feature is especially nice; most editors force you to painfully count the spaces and do separate actions for variations in spacing, which are very common in Poser files. For instance, the typical CR2 has both "hidden 1" and "hidden 1".

Oops, the R'osity HTML ignored the whitespace!

the adsoft program does look nice and, simple enough for even me to use, so I'll keep it around just in case, even if it is a 'Beta' (what do I care I use Windows which is permanent Beta). Best Wishes.

Looks like a cool program! But does anyone know what that "SUF60Runtime" program is that tries to access the net when you install it? (Seems to install okay if you block it, and didn't install any nasty adware, at least according Spybot.)

my firewall didn't detect that .. :(

Wow. A lot of interest in such a simple question. OK. I also did a Google and came up with a few. I d/ld and tried this one http://www.htmlworkshop.com/srhtml98.html It says it's for win 98 and NT, but appears to work under win 2k. It's a bit klunky to use though. I d/ld the adsoft one and will try it too. It may be better and it says it works with win 2k. Here's another possible, although I didn't try it. http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/utility/search/ Thanks to all for the input. mac

Hey guys, take a look at this site. This should do it :o) http://www.1-4a.com/rename/

Attached Link: http://www.orbit.org/replace/

BK ReplaceEm: The interface is a little odd but it's free and it works fairly well.

That one looks interesting, Crescent. Does it do that white space thing?

Dramstogo, That's a file renamer, so it won't do internal search and replace, but it looks interesting anyway. I d/ld it because the renamer I use doesn't have undo. I'll give it a try. Cres, ReplaceEm looked just too weird to me. LOL. mac

I don't know anything about adsoft-development.com, but there is a major spyware company called adsoft.com

I use editpad lite. I can open muliple documents in it at one time, and then I can do a key word or string search and replace of all docs open. Either automatic or manual. And editpad lite if free. Editpad pro can do more, but I have never tried it. http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html

Oh, to open multiple documents in windows explore is easy. I highlight all the files I want to open, and then right click and select open with editpad lite. So it is not a matter of having to manually open each doc.

I have Editpad Lite, but I don't use it. For some bizarre reason, I prefer Notepad. Dunno why. Anyway, I tried the Adsoft one and it's fine for what I need. Didn't see no spyware. I also tried a couple of new renamers, but I'm sticking with the one I already have. I was surprised to find that the one most people use, CK Renamer, can't even number a batch of files from 001 - whatever. It can only add numbers to exising ones. Pretty useless to me for thumbnails and web work. And the other one that Dreamstogo mentioned was awful. It's 'e-mailware' and kept trying to access the net even after I sent the guy an e-mail. So that one went head-first out the window. Here's the file renamer I use. It does everything I can imagine wanting to do. And is free. http://www.it-falke.com/software/us_renamefiles.php mac PS I'm not using any hot links until that nasty porn script has been beaten to death.

Thanks Mac, I will check out the renamer. BTW, been spelunking lately?

Something you may consider doing after downloading all these programs is use AdAware6.0 to get rid of any spywear that's automatically installed. You can still use the new program, but AdAware will get rid of the unwanted programs ghosting in the background.

Yep, I have AdAware. Ran it and got nothing. So far, so good. Uh.... what's 'spelunking', shadownet? Maybe I do it without knowing. LOL. mac

Er, my bad maybe. I thought you were the one into exploring caves and what not. Must be thinking of someone else.

Ah yes, that spelunking. I knew I'd heard it somewhere. Sorry, not me. I like the sun on my face. LOL. mac

Try some Windows port of a UNIX Awk -program or even sed -program. One script should do the job with these.

I use InfoRapid (http://www.inforapid.com). Free, does files based on masks, uses limited regex (pattern matching). I've had good use of it. The freeware has an ad banner. I use Homesite all the time for HTML, except its S&R functions, which are very limited. TextPad will S&R all open files, and has full regex.

Attached Link: http://syn.sourceforge.net/

I use "syntext" editor for editing all my poser files. It has lots of functions including Macros.

Worth a look...

Marco