How to replace a string while while keeping a part

Question

I have file with multiple records: for example:

"datetime": "2018-10-10"
"datetime": "2018-10-11"
"datetime": "2019-01-11"
"datetime": "2018-02-15"

I would like to replace this string such that i can retain the date values, so something of this sort:

"datetime": date("2018-10-10")
"datetime": date("2018-10-11")
"datetime": date("2019-01-11")
"datetime": date("2018-02-15")

I am able to use "datetime": ".*" to find the above records, but am stuck with replacing them in the above format help is appreciated

Answer 1

You may use

Find what: ("datetime": )(".*")
Replace with: \1date\(\2\)

Details

• ("datetime": ) - Group 1 (\1 in the replacement pattern): a literal "datetime": substring
• (".*") - Group 2 (\2 in the replacement pattern): ", any 0+ chars other than line break chars, as many as possible, and then a " (note that in case your contents are mixed, it is much safer to use a non-greedy pattern here, ".*?")

Note that ( and ) inside the replacement pattern must be escaped as Notepad++ regex replacement patterns are Boost conditional replacement patterns and parentheses are "special" there.