Replace only in selection

Script Debugger Feature Requests
#1

Hi, would be great if it were possible to replace only in selected text.

Currently it’s necessary to use menu Edit > Edit With BBEdit and Selected text only in BBEdit’s Find window. That’s of course doable but gets a bit cumbersome if there’s a lot to replace (because I want to compile after each replacement which means I currently have to switch between BBEdit and Script Debugger a lot)

#2

Have you tried doing it via script? You can get the selection, act on that using AppleScript (or BBEdit if you prefer), then set the updated selection.

#3

Hey Pete,

There’s no way to get that granular with the ODB Editor Suite.

@ShaneStanley’s suggestion is your only means to improve this particular workflow. BBEdit is immensely scriptable, and Script Debugger isn’t bad – so you can do quite a lot between them.

-Chris

1 Like
#5

Didn’t try a script yet as asking for the search and the replace string via dialog wasn’t attractive.

Idea now is to to get the search and the replace string from Script Debugger, then apply that to selected text. I can get the search string from NSFindPboard, but where is the replace string stored?

#6

Shane has post this in this topic MacScripter / Search and Replace in Script Debugger (#20) :

tell application id "com.latenightsw.ScriptDebugger8" -- require v8.0.2
   set findString to search string
   set replaceString to search replace string
   set usesRegex to search uses regex
   set ignoresCase to search ignores case
end tell
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#7

Just ask:

tell application id "com.latenightsw.ScriptDebugger8" -- requires Script Debugger 8.0.2 or later
	set searchString to search string
	set replaceString to search replace string
end tell

Note the requirement for version 8.0.2 or later – there was a bug in earlier versions that meant sometimes a stale search replace string was returned.

1 Like
#8

This seems to work fine. Thanks!

-- Replace in selection

-- Requires Script Debugger 8.0.2 or later

use AppleScript version "2.4"
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions

tell application "Script Debugger"
	try
		if not (exists script window 1) then return
		set theDocument to current document of script window 1
		
		set theSelection to selection of theDocument
		if theSelection = "" then error "Please select some text"
		set theSearchString to search string
		if theSearchString = "" then error "Please provide a search string"
		set theSearchReplaceString to search replace string
		if theSearchReplaceString = "" then error "Please provide a replacement string"
		
		set theResult to my replaceString(theSelection, theSearchString, theSearchReplaceString, search uses regex, search matches words, search ignores case)
		if theResult ≠ theSelection then set selection of theDocument to theResult
		
	on error error_message number error_number
		if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "Script Debugger" message error_message as warning
		return
	end try
end tell

on replaceString(theText, thePattern, theReplacement, useRegex, useWholeWord, useIgnoreCase)
	try
		set theOptions to 0
		if useRegex then
			set theOptions to theOptions + ((current application's NSRegularExpressionSearch) as integer)
		else if useWholeWord then
			set theOptions to theOptions + ((current application's NSRegularExpressionSearch) as integer)
			set thePattern to current application's NSString's stringWithString:thePattern
			set thePattern to thePattern's stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:("\\w+") withString:("\\\\b$0\\\\b") options:((current application's NSRegularExpressionSearch)) range:{location:0, |length|:thePattern's |length|()}
		end if
		if useIgnoreCase then set theOptions to theOptions + ((current application's NSCaseInsensitiveSearch) as integer)
		set theString to current application's NSString's stringWithString:theText
		set newString to theString's stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:(thePattern) withString:(theReplacement) options:theOptions range:{location:0, |length|:theString's |length|()}
		set newText to newString as string
	on error error_message number error_number
		activate
		if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "Error: Handler \"replaceString\"" message error_message as warning
		error number -128
	end try
end replaceString
#9

I love the feature in Xcode in the code editor pane Find and Replace when you select a section of code and hold down option.

The Replace All button changes to Replace All in Section.

I find it super handy when need to duplicate a bit of code and just change one element in it from say mySection1 to mySection2.

I can highlight the copy and pasted section and just modify that rather than having to skip
The original code bits