Hi Nora,

I'll start with some suggestions to your second question about how to better implement the search and replacement items:

Separating search and replacement parts by a tab is smart, but you don't need to put these into your script. It is way easier to maintain a simple text file where you add them and then read that text file into a variable like this:

FileRead, vList, vListFile.txt

In order to run your search and replace, just use a simple loop:

Send, ^a
Send, ^c
Loop, Parse, vList, `r, `n
{
    oTemp := StrSplit(A_LoopField, "`t")
    FixString := StrReplace(FixString, oTemp.1, oTemp.2)
}
SendInput, %FixString%

As for the tag question, I need to look a bit deeper into this, but I fear it won't be easy without (again) the help of Studio APIs.

Kind regards,
Raphaël

Dear Raphaël Toussaint, dear Nora Díaz,

thanks a lot for your script. I have the same problem as Nora and wanted to use such a script while maintaining an external file where the terms to be replaced are.

However, I am doing something wrong and it doesn't work. My script is the following:

___________________________

#r::
ClipSaved := ClipboardAll
Clipboard =

FileRead, vList, vListFile.txt

Send, ^a
Send, ^c
Loop, Parse, vList, `r, `n
{
    oTemp := StrSplit(A_LoopField, "`t")
    FixString := StrReplace(FixString, oTemp.1, oTemp.2)
}
SendInput, %FixString%

;Sleep 200
;Send ^v
Return

__________________________

The file vListFile.txt is in the same folder and reads:

dog    perro
house    casa

(There is a tab after dog and after house.)

__________________________

• I have an example file open which reads:

This is a dog and that is a house.

• I press Windows + R.

The text is only shortly highlighted and unhighlighted, but «dog» isn't changed to «perro» and «house» not to «casa».

What am I doing wrong in the script?

Please help!

Best regards

Robert

Robert Paetzold 

I think you missed this important line just before the loop:

FixString := Clipboard

Dear Jesús,

thanks a lot for your answer! That line made my script work.

I made the script more complete so that it directly copies source to target and applies the word replacement list before sending the content to a machine translation:

^#ü::
ClipSaved := ClipboardAll
Clipboard =

FileRead, vList, vListFile.txt
Send, ^{Ins}
Send, ^a
Send, ^c
FixString := Clipboard
Loop, Parse, vList, `r, `n
{
    oTemp := StrSplit(A_LoopField, "`t")
    FixString := StrReplace(FixString, oTemp.1, oTemp.2)
}
SendInput, %FixString%

Sleep 200
Send, {ctrl down}ä{ctrl up}

; This "Ctrl + ä" is for the actual machine translation in an external program like e.g. «KeyCtrl».
Return

----

However, the script is rather slow when filling in word by word and replacing the words from the replacement list. Then it stops and doesn't complete the additional steps. Any idea to make the replacement process quicker?

I appreciate any help!

Cheers

Rob

Robert Paetzold 

Just for fun I put your exact post into ChatGPT.  I have no idea if the response is correct and have not attempted to test it... but I am curious.  Maybe it'll work, but if not perhaps there will be something in the answer that could be helpful for you:

^#ü::
ClipSaved := ClipboardAll
Clipboard =

FileRead, vList, vListFile.txt
Send, ^{Ins}
Send, ^a
Send, ^c
ClipWait, 2 ; Wait for clipboard to be populated
if ErrorLevel {
    MsgBox, 48, Error, Clipboard was not populated within 2 seconds.
    return
}

FixString := Clipboard

; Build a dictionary for faster lookup
ReplacementDict := {}
Loop, Parse, vList, `r, `n
{
    oTemp := StrSplit(A_LoopField, "`t")
    ReplacementDict[oTemp.1] := oTemp.2
}

; Replace words using the dictionary
FixString := RegExReplace(FixString, "\b\w+\b", Func("ReplaceWords"))

SendInput, %FixString%

Sleep 200
Send, {ctrl down}ä{ctrl up}
Return

ReplaceWords(m) {
    global ReplacementDict
    word := m.Value
    if (ReplacementDict.HasKey(word)) {
        return ReplacementDict[word]
    }
    return word
}

Here are the main optimizations used in this script:

1. Use ClipWait to ensure the clipboard is populated before proceeding with the script.
2. Build a dictionary (associative array) with the replacement list for faster word lookups.
3. Use RegExReplace with a function object to handle word replacements more efficiently.

These optimizations should make the replacement process quicker and allow the script to complete the additional steps.

Robert Paetzold 

Just for fun I put your exact post into ChatGPT.  I have no idea if the response is correct and have not attempted to test it... but I am curious.  Maybe it'll work, but if not perhaps there will be something in the answer that could be helpful for you:

^#ü::
ClipSaved := ClipboardAll
Clipboard =

FileRead, vList, vListFile.txt
Send, ^{Ins}
Send, ^a
Send, ^c
ClipWait, 2 ; Wait for clipboard to be populated
if ErrorLevel {
    MsgBox, 48, Error, Clipboard was not populated within 2 seconds.
    return
}

FixString := Clipboard

; Build a dictionary for faster lookup
ReplacementDict := {}
Loop, Parse, vList, `r, `n
{
    oTemp := StrSplit(A_LoopField, "`t")
    ReplacementDict[oTemp.1] := oTemp.2
}

; Replace words using the dictionary
FixString := RegExReplace(FixString, "\b\w+\b", Func("ReplaceWords"))

SendInput, %FixString%

Sleep 200
Send, {ctrl down}ä{ctrl up}
Return

ReplaceWords(m) {
    global ReplacementDict
    word := m.Value
    if (ReplacementDict.HasKey(word)) {
        return ReplacementDict[word]
    }
    return word
}

Here are the main optimizations used in this script:

1. Use ClipWait to ensure the clipboard is populated before proceeding with the script.
2. Build a dictionary (associative array) with the replacement list for faster word lookups.
3. Use RegExReplace with a function object to handle word replacements more efficiently.

These optimizations should make the replacement process quicker and allow the script to complete the additional steps.

Hi Paul,

thanks for your efforts. I really appreciate it.

However, now I get results like:

"               ,       ." or "    ,       ." or "        ." (only spaces + comma and period).

I also tried the script when putting

Sleep 200
Send, {ctrl down}ä{ctrl up}
Return

at the end because this "Ctrl+ä" is the actual machine translation and should be after the word replacement function, I think. But I get the same wrong results...

Maybe, Jesús Prieto, you can help here?

Kind regards

Rob

Hi Robert Paetzold ,

Robert Paetzold said:

However, now I get results like

As Paul said, it’s just ChatGPT code and you still need to confirm it’s good or not and take the bits you find useful.

Robert Paetzold said:

However, the script is rather slow when filling in word by word and replacing the words from the replacement list.