Simple RegEx HTML Editor

[theTinDog]

Looking for a Free HTML Editor that will support Regular Expressions (find and replace) and apply across an entire website... Any Suggestions?

Have been using Dreamweaver CS3 as my HTML editor but it's started Beachballing when I use a RegEx query - just need a simple fix application to get me around this..

 

[organicCPU]

Not HTML Editor, but replacement tools:

I've been using MassReplaceIt on Mac OS X 10.8. for search and replace operations. It's appearing to be outdated (last release 2006), but I checked right now that it can still launch on El Capitan. Haven't used it for RegEx much, but you can enable it in preferences. http://www.hexmonkeysoftware.com

Some other tools that I didn't try:
https://sw.ixoft.com/texfinderx/ (Donationware)
http://facelessuser.github.io/Rummage/ (seems to be no binary package for Mac provided)
http://findandreplace.sourceforge.net (needs Java installed)
And a commercial one from MAS:
http://www.tensionsoftware.com/osx/stringreplacer/

One could also use built-in 'grep' or 'awk' commands in Terminal

For free HTML Editors:
https://atom.io
http://brackets.io

 

[Flood123]

i use atom. It's pretty great and only getting better because its open source.

 

[theTinDog]

Not HTML Editor, but replacement tools:

I've been using MassReplaceIt on Mac OS X 10.8. for search and replace operations. It's appearing to be outdated (last release 2006), but I checked right now that it can still launch on El Capitan. Haven't used it for RegEx much, but you can enable it in preferences. http://www.hexmonkeysoftware.com

Thanks that was an awesome suggestion.. didn't even know such apps were available.
Have downloaded and will definitely be keeping a hold of it - looks like it could be extremely useful.

Unfortunately it didn't help my current issue and the app bombed out when i tried to apply my RegEx query
I'm now beginning to think the problem must be something to do with my coding.
But that's gonna be a whole new other thread now

 

[organicCPU]

Unfortunately it didn't help my current issue and the app bombed out when i tried to apply my RegEx query
I'm now beginning to think the problem must be something to do with my coding.

Regular expressions are frequently confusing me, too. Most Apps tend to require a bit different usage. There is no documentation around how to use RegEx specifically in MassReplaceIt. MassReplaceIt seems to utilize an early version from 2002 of AGRegex, that is a Perl-compatible regular expression framework using the PCRE library. You'll find a header file in the App package and the project can be found here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/agkit/ . Further I've been reading at https://tinyapps.org/osx.html that multiline search will require CR line endings. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[olup]

have a look at vs code https://code.visualstudio.com/, it offers tons of extensions, also stuff like regex previewing/testing.

 

[Flood123]

have a look at vs code https://code.visualstudio.com/, it offers tons of extensions, also stuff like regex previewing/testing.

a lot of folks in my office have switched from Sublime3 or atom to VS Code. I have stuck with Atom however VS Code does look like a nice option for sure.

 

[olup]

a lot of folks in my office have switched from Sublime3 or atom to VS Code. I have stuck with Atom however VS Code does look like a nice option for sure.

From what I heard/know so far is that it handles large projects a lot better than Atom. And a lot of stuff(themes, etc) is being ported over to vs code from sublime text 3 and atom, so definitely worth checking out.

 

[Flood123]

From what I heard/know so far is that it handles large projects a lot better than Atom. And a lot of stuff(themes, etc) is being ported over to vs code from sublime text 3 and atom, so definitely worth checking out.

I can actually attest to this fact. Large files are a huge bummer with atom.

 

[typonaut]

TextWrangler from BareBones:

https://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/textwranglerpower.html

 

[jtara]

Sublime Text 3 works for me.

But you should make sure that Regex is really the tool you need.

You didn't say just what you are changing.

If you are e.g. changing CSS classes or IDs, or Javascript variable names, you should consider refactoring tools rather than regex. Most IDEs and editors that accept plugins have a number of alternative refactoring tools available. Such tools parse and "understand" your HTML, CSS, JS and can make it easier to perform these tasks.

If you are changing the structure and content of a static website, you should consider moving to a static site generator. Jekyll is the most popular. But I like Middleman. They give you all the power of an MVC framework or CMS, but instead of running on your server, they generate a static site ready to deploy to your server. You can use templates, they have an "asset pipeline" for your JS and CSS, etc. They are also great for repurposing content - it is easy, for example, to generate separate sites for desktop and mobile, or for web and app (e.g. Cordova). An SSG would be a great way to produce 'branded' sites as well. (e.g. same/similar site for different customers, but with different look and feel and some variations.)

 

[Flood123]

From what I heard/know so far is that it handles large projects a lot better than Atom. And a lot of stuff(themes, etc) is being ported over to vs code from sublime text 3 and atom, so definitely worth checking out.

I have made the switch to vscode. So far I am enjoying it.