Patterns
You can ask Qedit to look for a pattern instead of a specific string by using the Pattern window option:
/list ".@key@" (pattern)
The command above displays all lines that contain a period in column 1, and the string “key” with anything in between and at the end. The string window can also specify Upshift to ignore case and Nomatch to select lines that fail to match.
Organize your PATTERN string like an MPE pattern-match (i.e., “@UPD@MASTER@”). You can combine it with the UPSHIFT option. Qedit will only find the pattern within a single line of text, not spanning two lines.
The special characters in a pattern are:
@ to match anything, including nothing
# to match a single numeric digit
? to match a single alphanumeric character
~ (tilde or wavy line) to match zero or more spaces
& match next character (use to match “@”)
^ (reserved for future use)
! (reserved for future use)
Important: At-signs (@) are needed at both ends of a pattern if you want to search for a pattern at any spot in the line. List “QEDIT” (PATTERN) matches only lines consisting of “QEDIT” only, starting in column 1.
The Nomatch and Pattern options are ignored for the Change target string. If you try to use them, Qedit prints a warning.
Here are some sample commands containing window options:
/list "bob" (upshift) {“bob”,”BOB”,”Bob”,etc.}
/list "@BOB@" (pattern) {lines containing “BOB” anywhere}
/list "BOB@" (pattern) {lines with “BOB” in column 1}
/del "&@@" (pattern) {delete lines starting with @}
/mod "@fix@QEDIT@"(pat) {lines with two strings}
/delete "~" (pattern) {delete all blank lines}
/list "^[A-Z][a-z]*" (regexp) {lines starting with an uppercase}