Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with textfile

extract email addresses from garbage text?

stupidsexyFlanders — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:11:30 -0800

I have a ton of garbage text with about 100 email addresses scattered within. I want a text file containing just those email addresses. Is there an MS Word search/replace query that will do that? What is it? (Or is there another way?)

How to Integrate "Repeating Tasks" Into a Text File To-Do System?

WCityMike — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:46:41 -0800

I recently switched over to a plain text file as my to-do list; I can structure it the way I want, it is an absolute cinch to access in any one of a hundred zillion different ways, it's crossplatform, and so on. However, I am running into one methodology I can't figure out how to translate into the "plain text" world, and that is repeating tasks. I am wondering how people who also keep their to-do lists in text files handle repeating tasks. I'd like to specifically exclude the solutions of loading repeating tasks into a calendaring program or employing a third-party application to create them (i.e. Taskpaper & AppleScript, or Remind). I'm really looking more for how you handle it in simply in the world of plain text.

Also, to open it up a little, I'm curious as to what little mechanisms or mindhacks or systems you may employ within your text-file to-do list, so please feel free to share that, too (although I am primarily interested in the repeating tasks question).

Thanks!

File diffs

signal — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:35:51 -0800

I have two versions of a largeish text file, one a slightly modified version of the other. Is there any app I can run in Xp that would report the differences between the two on a line-to-line basis? Could it also do the same for a whole mess of corresponding text files within a large directory structure?

Is there any easy command or application that will randomise lines in a text file?

humuhumu — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 06:55:58 -0800

Is there any easy command or application that will randomise lines in a text file? Answer: yes, and as usual it turns up immediately after asking the question. For those interested:

#!/usr/bin/perl
# Program to output lines of file in random order

# Read File
while (<>) {
push(foo, $_);
}

# Shuffle lines
srand;
for (0..$#foo) {
$r = rand($#foo+1);
($foo[$r], $foo[$_]) = ($foo[$_], $foo[$r]);
}

# Print it out
for (0..$#foo) {
print $foo[$_];
}

perl [inputfile] > [outputfile]

My thanks to Steve who answered me seven and a half years ago.