deleting empty lines

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shark102 - 11 Jan 2006 13:52 GMT

hello

I import a lot of data from database into WORD and it assumes the following
format: (I am trying to simulate formatting marks, hope it is clear)

text.text.number....................^p
............=====....................^p
............number....................^p
...........................................^p
...........................................^p
...........................................^p
...........................................^p
...........................................^p
...........................................^p
text.text.number....................^p
............=====....................^p
............number....................^p
...........................................^p
...........................................^p
text.text.number....................^p
............=====....................^p
............number....................^p
etc...

The thing I need to do is to delete blank lines, but only if there are 3 or
more blank lines in a row. (so that 2 empty lines always separate set of
data)
Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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Graham Mayor - 11 Jan 2006 14:16 GMT

If I understand you correctly, a wildcard search for
^13{3,}
replace with
^p^p^p
should do the trick if the lines are truly blank- but the rows of
"................."
throw doubt on that. What do the dots represent, if anything?
If they are dots then
first run a wildcard replace of
.@^13
with
^p
If they are spaces change the dot to a space.

The following macro incorporates that and assumes a space for the dot.

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = " @^13"
.Replacement.Text = "^p"
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = "^13{3,}"
.Replacement.Text = "^p^p^p"
End With
Selection.Find.Execute replace:=wdReplaceAll

See http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

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> hello
>
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> Thanks in advance.

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shark102 - 11 Jan 2006 15:15 GMT

hello

dots represent spaces

macro works, I did not change anything there.

Thank you very much.

> If I understand you correctly, a wildcard search for
> ^13{3,}
[quoted text clipped - 69 lines]
> >
> > Thanks in advance.

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Greg - 11 Jan 2006 15:35 GMT

See:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Clean_Up_Text.htm

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