How to break lines at a specific character in Notepad++?

Question

I have a text file containing text like:

['22APR2012 23:10', '23APR2012 07:10', 1, 3, 0], ['22APR2012 23:10', '23APR2012 07:20', 1, 3, 0], ['22APR2012 23:15', '23APR2012 06:40', 0, 1, 0], ['22APR2012 
23:15', '23APR2012 06:40', 1, 3, 0], ['22APR2012 23:15', '23APR2012 06:40', 0, 1, 0], ['22APR2012 23:15', '23APR2012 07:00', 1, 3, 0], ['22APR2012 23:15', '23APR2012 
07:00', 0, 1, 0], ['22APR2012 23:20', '23APR2012 09:35', 0, 1, 0], ['22APR2012 23:20', '23APR2012 09:35', 1, 3, 0], ['22APR2012 23:20', '23APR2012 10:10', 1, 3, 0], 
['22APR2012 23:25', '23APR2012 05:35', 1, 3, 0], 

I want the lines break at ], characters:

['22APR2012 19:30', '23APR2012 00:25', 0, 1, 0], 
['22APR2012 19:35', '23APR2012 01:45', 1, 3, 0],
['22APR2012 19:50', '23APR2012 05:25', 1, 3, 0],
['22APR2012 19:50', '23APR2012 05:25', 0, 1, 0],
['22APR2012 19:55', '23APR2012 06:25', 1, 3, 0],

Is there a way to do it in Notepad++ or any other editor?

Answer 1

1. Click Ctrl + h or Search -> Replace on the top menu
2. Under the Search Mode group, select Regular expression
3. In the Find what text field, type ],\s*
4. In the Replace with text field, type ],\n
5. Click Replace All

Answer 2

Let's assume ], is the character where we wanted to break at

1. Open notePad++
2. Open Find window Ctrl+F
3. Switch to Replace Tab
4. Choose Search Mode to Extended
5. Type ], in Find What field
6. Type \nin Replace with field
7. Hit Replace All
8. Boom

Answer 3

If the text contains \r\n that need to be converted into new lines use the 'Extended' or 'Regular expression' modes and escape the backslash character in 'Find what':

Find what: \\r\\n

Replace with: \r\n

Answer 4

Try this way. It got worked for me

1. Open Notepad++ then copy your content
2. Press ctrl + h
3. Find what is should be ,(comma) or any character that you want to replace
4. Replace with should be \n
5. Select Search Mode -> Extended (\n, \r, \t, \0)
6. Then Click on Replace All

Answer 5

I have no idea how it can work automatically, but you can copy "], " together with new line and then use replace function.

Answer 6

If you are looking to get a comma separated string into a column with CR LF you wont be able to do that in Notepad++, assuming you didn't want to write code, you could manipulate it in Microsoft Excel.

If you copy your string to location B1:

A2 =LEFT(B1,FIND(",",B1)-1)
B2 =MID(B1,FIND(",",B1)+1,10000)

Select A2 and B2, copy the code to successive cells (by dragging):

A3 =LEFT(B2,FIND(",",B2)-1)
B3 =MID(B2,FIND(",",B2)+1,10000)

When you get #VALUE! in the last cell of column A replace it with the previous rows B value.

In the end your A column will contain the desired text. Copy and past it anywhere you wish.