On Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:21:06 -0600, Ed Morton <mortonspam@gmail.com> wrote: >On 2/17/2013 10:01 PM, Denis Beauregard wrote: >> On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 08:19:55 +0200, Steve Hayes >> <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote in soc.genealogy.computing: >> >>> On Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:48:58 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir <invalid@invalid.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> If Legacy won't let you do the replacement in the given name field, >>>> then it gets more complicated, but still doable. In essence, you >>>> create the GEDCOM from Legacy with the names unchanged, then do the >>>> search/replace on the GEDCOM. The reason it's more difficult there is >>>> because then you have to write some sort of macro the do the >>>> replacement only on quote marks found in the name field. I did a few >>>> macros similar to that using Word to process the GEDCOMs generated by >>>> FTM back before RM wouldn't do the import directly. >> >> A less techie solution, but still using a GEDCOM file. >> >> Read your file with a spreadsheet (LibreOffice or Excel will do the >> job). Be sure to have all the file in ONE column. >> >> Add a column and enter numbers from 1 to the the number of lines in >> the file. In LibreOffice : Edit - Fill - Series >> >> Sort the file by the GEDCOM lines. >> >> Replace the fields you want to, as all the 1 NAME lines, for example, >> will be in a continuous group. >> >> Sort by line numbers to get the original order. >> >> Remove the column with line numbers. >> >> Save as GEDCOM. >> >> >> Denis >> > >If someone would like to post some small set of representative sample input and >expected output and describe the transformation you need, those of us at >comp.lang.awk who don't know and don't care what GEDCOM, Legacy, etc. are might >have something to contribute. Gedcom files are text file used to exchange data between different generalogy programs. There are also some programs that use GEDCOM as their primary format for storing data. Since AWK is a language for manipulating text files, I thought it might be possible to develop some AWK routiens for manipulating GEDCOM files -- in this case a the content of a single field. -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk