How to remove full stops from the end of every source segment using SDLXLIFF Toolkit

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know the regex codes for searching for all the (trailing) full stops at the end of each source segment in Trados and replacing them with nothing (i.e. removing them)?

I've imported an sdlxliff file that was exported from another CAT tool, and for some reason a full stop has been added to every single source segment.

The segments that had no full stops now have one, and the segments that already had one or more full stops at the end now just have one more.

As you'd imagine, I'd prefer not having to manually edit every one of the almost 2000 source segments, if at all possible...



info added
[edited by: Nathanael Fourie at 9:15 AM (GMT 0) on 16 Mar 2023]
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    You could take a copy of the sdlxliff and do it in a text editor using regex?  Test the sdlxliff afterwards and if you didn't break it you're good to go.  For example:

    Search for:

    (<source>)([^.<]+)\.+(</source>)

    Replace with:

    $1$2$3

    But be very careful and check it.  I don't have your files and the very simple test I just did with my own file may not match what you have.  So take this approach:

    1. Back up your current sdlxliff file from your target folder by copying it into a new folder somewhere safe.  Then you can easily put it back
    2. run the search and replace on the sdlxliff file in your project in a decent text editor
    3. open the project and test it to make sure of the following at least:
      1. you can still open it,
      2. the changes are correct, 
      3. you can save a target file
      4. etc.

    If anything is broken you easily recover by copying the one you backed up back into the project.  In fact I think I'd even back up the original project just to be sure!!  It's always risky playing with sdlxliff files natively, but it can indeed be a quick way to make changes if you're comfortable with it and understand the risks.

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  • Any chance I might have removed the full stops in the incorrect sdlxliff?

    Should I have searched and replaced in the target sdlxliff file?

    Anyways, I did it for both source and target sdlxliff file, and then copied the target one, rename it slightly, and pulled it into the project as a source file and voila, no more additional full stops.

    On the contrary, I just opened up and checked the other project file (which is an sdlxliff file), i.e. the original file I performed the search&replace operation on while working on it live, and now that file also has the full stops removed (contrary to earlier on, when I was flipping in and out of my live project and other ones, so as to refresh the content of the original file I had been working on, but then the full stops were still showing all the time).

    That's a bit weird, so I don't know if it has something to do with the Toolkit app or Trados, but the changes definitely weren't showing for a significant amount of time, which is why I thought of copying and renaming the target sdlxliff project file and adding it as a new source/project file.

    Any thoughts on the above,  ?

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  •  

    Should I have searched and replaced in the target sdlxliff file?

    Yes, unless you intend to use the sdlxiff as the source file for a new project in which case changing in this might be beneficial, especially if it's a multilingual project.  Although in practice it should not matter seeing as you can do all the files in one go with the toolkit (when it's working!)

    Any thoughts on the above,

    Other than that I don't.  I don't really follow what you did here but I also don't think it matters.  The toolkit definitely doesn't work correctly when attempting to change the content in the source.  So we need to fix it.

    If you managed to resolve your problem then that's a perfect result.  We'll make sure it's easier next time!

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