Find and Replace in a loop in Google Docs App Script

Question

I frequently write research papers that require in-text citations as numbers in brackets - for example: "This is a quote [1]."

As I write the papers, I use letters instead of numbers so I can find & replace later, since I'm likely to add in citations here and there, I don't want to have to renumber every citation to keep them in order.

How do I search through an entire Google doc in a loop, and replace each letter with a number? E.G. replace [a] with [1], [b] with [2] etc. I tried this code, but it replaced every single character in the doc with a random number in brackets. I'm not clear on the rules for escaping brackets, so I've also tried this with a \ before every bracket:

function myFunction() {

    var doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
    body = doc.getBody();

     var alphabet = ["[a]", "[b]", "[c]", "[d]", "[e]", "[f]", "[g]", "[h]", "[i]", "[j]", "[k]", "[l]", "[m]", "[n]", "[o]", "[p]", "[q]", "[r]", "[s]", "[t]", "[u]", "[v]", "[w]", "[x]", "[y]", "[z]", "[aa]", "[bb]", "[cc]", "[dd]", "[ee]", "[ff]", "[gg]", "[hh]", "[ii]", "[jj]", "[kk]", "[ll]", "[mm]", "[nn]", "[oo]", "[pp]", "[qq]", "[rr]", "[ss]", "[tt]", "[uu]", "[vv]", "[ww]", "[xx]", "[yy]", "[zz]"]; 
      
      for (i = 0; i < alphabet.length; i++) { 
       num = i+1;
       newText = "["+num+"]";
    
    body.replaceText(alphabet[i], newText);
    }
}

For anyone noticing that replacing [a] with [1], etc all the way down the document doesn't make sense, I should point out that after the research is complete, I'll rearrange the 'alphabet' array based on the order of letters as they appear in my paper. — Brian
– Brian, Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 21:43

Chris · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-25 02:44:20Z

1

Looks like you need to double-escape the brackets:

function testReplace(){
  var doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
  body = doc.getBody();


  var alphabet = ["\\[a\\]", "\\[b\\]", "[c]"]; // c is a test-case


  for (i = 0; i < alphabet.length; i++) { 
    num = i+1;
    newText = "["+num+"]";

    body.replaceText(alphabet[i], newText);
  }
}

Before:

A a [a]

B b [b]

C c [c]

After:

A a [1]

B b [2]

C [3] [[3]]

edited Feb 25, 2018 at 2:44

answered Feb 25, 2018 at 2:17

Chris

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Brian · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-25 02:39:20Z

0

The .replaceText method matches using regular expressions, so you need to change your search structure to:

body.replaceText("\[" + alphabet[i] + "\]", num + "]")

This will replace every instance of bracketed notes in your document.

answered Feb 25, 2018 at 2:39

Brian

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Julie McMurry · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-02 22:45:49Z

0

Paperpile.com integrates with google docs and will do this all for you.

answered Nov 2, 2020 at 22:45

Julie McMurry

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Matthew Hamilton · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-26 04:03:28Z

0

Have you considered using empty brackets and then placing the numbers when you are done?

e.g. This is a quote[].

When you are done writing the paper, use Find & Replace and search for "[]" and then add in the numbers. Using Find & Replace will ensure that you don't accidentally miss any brackets.

If you don't want to use Find & Replace, would empty brackets help you number them more easily with Apps Script?

answered May 26, 2021 at 4:03

Matthew Hamilton

1

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