How to Format a Log Quickly
Logging can be done smoothly. Usually, it is a case of knowing a little advanced Find and Replace. I've probably included more screenshots than is needed. A special thanks goes to Eleria for his help in getting the RegEx in order!
What You Need
- A client that supports logging. For example, SimpleMU or BeipMU.
- A text editor that supports advanced searches. If you run Windows, install Notepad++. If you're using another OS, use its native text editor. Note that the Automagic Button doesn't work outside of Notepad++, but you can follow the instructions under Almost Automagically.
How You Do It: Automagically
Install the Magic Button
- 1. Install Notepad++ if you haven't.
- 2. Copy some text
- 3. Navigate to: C:\Documents and Settings\[User]\Application Data\Notepad++\
- 4. Right-click on Shortcuts.xml, and open with a text editor that is NOT Notepad++
- 5. Copy the text from the above file, and paste it into Shortcuts.xml, just below where you see:
- <InternalCommands />
- <Macros>
- 6. Save and close Shortcuts.xml; you may wish to open it again to verify that it saved (that there was not a Windows permissions issue)
Run the Magic Button
- 1. Open your log in Notepad++
- 2. Navigate to the Macro menu, and select the name of the Macro you just imported
- LogCleanOOC cleans everything BUT OOC
- LogCleanALL cleans everything
Note that neither of these clear out +rolls or GAME information.
How You Do It: Almost Automagically
To clean a log in this fashion, you will be tinkering with a few of Find and Replace's more advanced features. Don't worry, though. Just copy and paste what you see in the table below. The table shows you what to search for when doing this in Notepad++. Linux and Mac text editors should be able to perform similar functions.
Note that when pasting things into the Find field, be sure there are no trailing spaces. Also, you're meant to paste in one line at a time.
| To Find... | Open Search, and Select... | Paste This into Find | Paste this into Replace |
| Pages |  |
^From afar\, (.*?)$ ^[A-Za-z\-\'\`]+ pages\: (.*?)$ ^Long distance to (.*?)\: (.*?)$ ^You paged (.*?) with \'(.*?)\'$ ^From afar\, to \((.*?)\)\: (.*?)$ ^To \((.*?)\)\, (.*?) pages: (.*?)$ |
Put nothing into Replace (that is, leave it blank) |
| Channel Chatter | |
^\[[A-Za-z]+\] (.*?)$ | Put nothing into Replace (that is, leave it blank) |
| OOC Chatter | |
^<OOC> (.*?)$ | Put nothing into Replace (that is, leave it blank) |
| Remove spacing before poses | |
^\s+ | Put nothing into Replace (that is, leave it blank) |
| Remove excess returns |  |
1. Search for \r\n\r\n and replace with \r\n 2. Do this until you get "0 occurances replaced" in the popup | |
| After doing the above, insert the correct number of returns | |
\r | \r\r |
If you're running Linux or Mac: Regarding adding additional lines between paragraphs, or removing triple lines: \n and \r stand for New line, and Return, respectively. Depending on your OS, you may need to search for slightly different combinations. Try and see! You're not going to hurt it.
Other Options: MUX Log Cleaner is available for Windows, and may be useful on many different MUs. Requires .NET.