Python to Find-replace a string and Create Two Paragraphs Before String in Words Document

Question

I have a VBA Macro. In that, I have

.Find Text = 'Pollution'
.Replacement Text = '^p^pChemical'

Here, '^p^pChemical' means Replace the Word Pollution with Chemical and create two empty paragraphs before the word sea.

Before:

After:

Have you noticed that The Word Pollution has been replaced With Chemical and two empty paragraphs preceds it ? This is how I want in Python.

My Code so far:

import docx
from docx import Document
    document = Document('Example.docx')
    for Paragraph in document.paragraphs:
        if 'Pollution' in paragraph:
             replace(Pollution, Chemical)
        document.add_paragraph(before('Chemical'))
        document.add_paragraph(before('Chemical'))

I want to open a word document to find the word, replace it with another word, and create two empty paragraphs before the replaced word.

What error do you get? – Mad Physicist Jun 07 '22 at 08:09 — Mad Physicist, Jun 07 '22 at 08:09
It is just an example code. there is no replace function – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 08:10 — Noob-Programmer, Jun 07 '22 at 08:10

Alexander · Answer 1 · 2022-06-07T08:36:13.450

1

This will take the text from the your document, replace the instances of the word pollution with chemical and add paragraphs in between, but it doesn't change the first document, instead it creates a copy. This is probably the safer route to go anyway.

import re
from docx import Document

ref = {"Pollution":"Chemicals", "Ocean":"Sea", "Speaker":"Magnet"}

def get_old_text():
    doc1 = Document('demo.docx')
    fullText = []
    for para in doc1.paragraphs:
        fullText.append(para.text)
    text = '\n'.join(fullText)
    return text


def create_new_document(ref, text):
    doc2 = Document()
    lines = text.split('\n')
    for line in lines:
        for k in ref:
            if k.lower() in line.lower():
                parts = re.split(f'{k}', line, flags=re.I)
                doc2.add_paragraph(parts[0])
                for part in parts[1:]:
                    doc2.add_paragraph('')
                    doc2.add_paragraph('')
                    doc2.add_paragraph(ref[k] + " " + part)
    doc2.save('demo.docx')


text = get_old_text()
create_new_document(ref, text)

edited Jun 07 '22 at 08:36

answered Jun 07 '22 at 06:11

Alexander

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I want to open a word document with the text inside it. I dont want to define the string. – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 06:13
I have a dictionary. how can i integrate dictionary in the code ? – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 06:40
Dictionary = {"Pollution":"Chemicals", "Ocean":"Sea", "Speaker":"Magnet"} – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 08:06
@Noob-Programmer. I suggest you make an attempt. Right now, it looks like you're having other people implement the project for you. – Mad Physicist Jun 07 '22 at 14:08
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72535824/make-the-first-letter-capital-at-the-start-of-every-paragraph-and-after-period-i?noredirect=1#comment128134220_72535824 – Noob-Programmer Jun 08 '22 at 05:39

Mad Physicist · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-07T14:07:23.997

1

You can search through each paragraph to find the word of interest, and call insert_paragraph_before to add the new elements:

def replace(doc, target, replacement):
   for par in list(document.paragraphs):
        text = par.text
        while (index := text.find(target)) != -1:
            par.insert_paragraph_before(text[:index].rstrip())
            par.insert_paragraph_before('')
            par.text = replacement + text[index + len(target)]

list(doc.paragraphs) makes a copy of the list, so that the iteration is not thrown off when you insert elements.

Call this function as many times as you need to replace whatever words you have.

edited Jun 07 '22 at 14:07

answered Jun 07 '22 at 08:21

Mad Physicist

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How to use dictionary here? – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 08:24
@Noob-Programmer. Put it in a loop similar to the other question. Think of it as an exercise for the reader – Mad Physicist Jun 07 '22 at 13:23
? I did not understand how to put a dictionary here – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 14:04
How to Remove all paragraphs before string but let one para ? – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 14:04
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72855502/python-to-get-no-of-characters-of-files-ending-with-docx-from-a-directory-and – Noob-Programmer Jul 04 '22 at 10:50
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72855502/python-to-get-no-of-characters-of-files-ending-with-docx-from-a-directory-and – Noob-Programmer Jul 04 '22 at 10:51

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 07 '22 at 06:01

You need to use \n for new line. Using re should work like so:

import re

before = "The term Pollution means the manifestation of any unsolicited foregin substance in something. When we talk about pollution on earth, we refer to the contamination that is happening of the natural resources by various pollutants"
pattern = re.compile("pollution", re.IGNORECASE)
after = pattern.sub("\n\nChemical", before)
print(after)

Which will output:

The term 

Chemical means the manifestation of any unsolicited foregin substance in something. When we talk about 

Chemical on earth, we refer to the contamination that is happening of the natural resources by various pollutants

I want to do it in Word Document – Noob-Programmer Jun 07 '22 at 06:02 — Noob-Programmer, Jun 07 '22 at 06:02

Python to Find-replace a string and Create Two Paragraphs Before String in Words Document

3 Answers3

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