Pascal Zotto 

Always helps to have a sample to play with.  But perhaps this will help.  I created this sample and the expressions with the help of ChatGPT:

<quiz>
    <question number="258" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>What is the name of the fire-breathing creature in Greek mythology?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It has the body of a lion and the tail of a serpent.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="359" type="TF">
        <content>
            <p>Is the Phoenix a creature that is reborn from its own ashes?</p>
            <computed>True or False?</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="460" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>Which creature in Norse mythology is known as the world serpent?</p>
            <computed>Hint: Its name starts with a 'J'.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="561" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>What is the name of the one-eyed giants in Greek mythology?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It starts with 'C'.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="662" type="TF">
        <content>
            <p>Are Unicorns considered mythical creatures in every culture?</p>
            <computed>True or False?</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="763" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>What is the name of the multi-headed dog guarding the underworld in Greek mythology?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It starts with 'C'.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="864" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>Which creature in Chinese mythology is known for its power over water?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It's a dragon.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="965" type="TF">
        <content>
            <p>Is the Kraken a legendary sea monster of gigantic size in Scandinavian folklore?</p>
            <computed>True or False?</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="1066" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>What is the name of the bird in Egyptian mythology that symbolizes the sun, creation, and rebirth?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It starts with 'B'.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="1167" type="TF">
        <content>
            <p>Is Bigfoot considered a mythical creature?</p>
            <computed>True or False?</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="1268" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>Which creature in Japanese mythology is a turtle-like creature often depicted with a tail and long neck?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It starts with 'K'.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
    <question number="1369" type="MCQ">
        <content>
            <p>What is the name of the half-man, half-horse creatures in Greek mythology?</p>
            <computed>Hint: It starts with 'C'.</computed>
        </content>
    </question>
<question number="1470" type="TF">
    <content>
        <p>Is Medusa a mythical creature with snakes for hair in Greek mythology?</p>
        <computed>True or False?</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="1571" type="MCQ">
    <content>
        <p>What is the name of the legendary creature in Irish folklore known for its shape-shifting abilities?</p>
        <computed>Hint: It starts with 'C'.</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="1672" type="MCQ">
    <content>
        <p>Which creature in Hindu mythology is depicted as a large serpent that surrounds the world?</p>
        <computed>Hint: It starts with 'S'.</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="1773" type="TF">
    <content>
        <p>Are Goblins considered mythical creatures that are mischievous and troublemakers?</p>
        <computed>True or False?</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="1874" type="MCQ">
    <content>
        <p>What is the name of the half-man, half-goat creatures in Greek mythology?</p>
        <computed>Hint: It starts with 'S'.</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="1975" type="TF">
    <content>
        <p>Is the Loch Ness Monster a mythical creature believed to inhabit the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland?</p>
        <computed>True or False?</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="2076" type="MCQ">
    <content>
        <p>Which mythical creature is known for luring sailors to their doom with their enchanting voices in Greek mythology?</p>
        <computed>Hint: It starts with 'S'.</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="2177" type="TF">
    <content>
        <p>Is the Griffin a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle?</p>
        <computed>True or False?</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="2278" type="MCQ">
    <content>
        <p>What is the name of the mythical creature in Slavic folklore known for its ability to control the weather and bring storms?</p>
        <computed>Hint: It starts with 'B'.</computed>
    </content>
</question>
<question number="2255" type="TF">
    <content>
        <p>Is the Manticore a mythical creature with the body of a lion, a human head, and a scorpion tail?</p>
        <computed>True or False?</computed>
    </content>
</question>
</quiz>

The XPath expression to select the <p> and <computed> elements for translation, except for the ones whose parent <question> has an attribute number equal to 561, 763, 1066, or 1268 would be this for example:

//question[not(@number=561 or @number=763 or @number=1066 or @number=1268)]/content/*[self::p or self::computed]

1. //question: It selects all <question> elements in the XML document.
2. [not(@number=561 or @number=763 or @number=1066 or @number=1268)]: Filters the <question> elements that don't have a number attribute equal to 561, 763, 1066, or 1268.
3. /content: Selects the <content> child element of the filtered <question> elements.
4. /*[self::p or self::computed]: Selects the child elements of the <content> elements that are either <p> or <computed>.

I don't think regex will work for your use case.  But to try and make it easier to add lists of exclusions I pressed ChatGPT for a better answer:

//question[not(contains('|561|763|1066|1268|', concat('|', @number, '|')))]/content/*[self::p or self::computed]

1. //question: It selects all <question> elements in the XML document.
2. not(contains('|561|763|1066|1268|', concat('|', @number, '|'))):
   • concat('|', @number, '|'): Concatenates the current number attribute value with pipe characters | on both sides.
   • contains('|561|763|1066|1268|', ...): Checks if the concatenated string is present in the list of exclusions (the pipe-separated string).
   • not(...): Filters the <question> elements that don't match the exclusions.
3. /content: Selects the <content> child element of the filtered <question> elements.
4. /*[self::p or self::computed]: Selects the child elements of the <content> elements that are either <p> or <computed>.

To add more exclusions, simply append them to the pipe-separated list, like |561|763|1066|1268|NewExclusion|.

That may not be exactly what you were after as you didn't provide a sample file, but perhaps it'll help you to handle the file you have?  But both expressions worked well for me in Trados Studio with just two rules... for example;

Hi Paul,

yes, sorry, I was completely in a hassle yesterday and forgot to add a sample and my filetype settings I have so far. I thought of these 2 hours ago.

This is my first try to build such a filetype setting from scratch.

Apparently we used different approaches to create the filetype settings as I don't get any results at all, when I add the rules to the parser. :( I have Trados 2022. I tried 2 filetype settings but don't get the correct result...

Not sure what I did wrong when using the wizard to create the settings.2 xml file type settings.zip

Pascal Zotto 

I don't know about good... but I like to use this one:

https://download.cnet.com/XPath-Visualizer/3000-7241_4-75804649.html

I just found that link as I've had this tool for years and the original link which I shared in this article (https://multifarious.filkin.com/2015/11/07/x-files-ata56/ ) doesn't work anymore.  So take this at your own risk!

If you take it note you have to press "Alt" every time you start it to access the menus.  Catches everyone out!

unfortunately xpath visualizer does not work for me. It freezes as soon as I add some code or file. :(

Pascal Zotto 

Too bad... maybe take a look at some of the other tools I noted in that presentation.

Pascal Zotto 

Notepad++ has a plugin named XML Tools to get XPaths. Everything is free… not tested though.

doh... I have that extension installed but did not think about it for xpath. I looked under notepad++ plugins for xpath first thing last week and did not get any result. Today I tried again and even got XPatherizerNPP oO

Thanks Jesús Prieto for pointing me to try NP++ to look again

Both plugins seem to work fine but have a different approach on showing the results.

Paul 

I’m getting closer to get it work for Multilingual XML but I just saw a problem with regex for a Placeholder pattern. The regex is correct (tested in Notepad++ and RegexBuddy) but within the preview it does not match the expected string but only the beginning of it: <

it should match <This string of whatever length>

Regex used: ^((\s)?(&lt;|<).*(&gt;|>)?)$

So instead of converting <This string of whatever length> to a tag it only converts <

Pascal Zotto 

You probably want this:

((\s)?(&lt;|<).*(&gt;|>)?)

Although it doesn't seem too clever and might be what you really need at all.

Pascal Zotto said:

it should match <This string of whatever length>

Your regex is greedy, so could fail you by picking up too much.  I have no idea what your files look like but this might be more appropriate:

(<[^>]*?>|&lt;[^&]*?&gt;)

Paul , it's as greedy as it needs to be as the rule says to match anything between < and > but only if at the beginning and end of segement/line respectively. ;) The problem is that it does not pick up enough as stated above as it stops right after <.

I’ll try your rule at home while making it greedier again. ;)

Paul Your version does not solve the problem either. It still only matches the < at the beginning of the segment instead of getting everything until the > at the and of the segment. The strange thing is that it works well in all regex testers I used (Notepadd++, RegexBuddy,…). But once again, Trados does not like me with the rules ^^

 Pascal Zotto 

Perhaps you can provide an example string that you’re working with so I can enjoy the same tests as you?

 Pascal Zotto 

Perhaps you can provide an example string that you’re working with so I can enjoy the same tests as you?

 Paul  I hate Trados… I just wanted to add a few of those lines to the example file and tested them before uploading. They match… So I tested against the original file: today they match too…

strange enough, it works correctly when using this rule

/survey/section/question[not(contains('|785|786|', concat('|', @number, '|')))]/*[self::headline or self::choices]/text | //survey/text/p

but not when I use this rule.

/survey/section/question[not(contains('|785|786|', concat('|', @number, '|')))]/*[self::headline or self::choices]/text

That makes no sense. Tags are transformed after xpath rules are applied so they should work the same for any xpatch matches. Or am I getting this wrong?

Just try it for yourself.6281.xml example.zip

OK, forget what I said. It does not work with the longer rule, I missed that preview skips filetype setting for multilingual XML and uses another XML filetype setting.