Spell out state abbreviations | InDesign Add-ons (Scripts, Scripting, and Plug-ins) | Forum

Spell out state abbreviations

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4:11 pm
December 3, 2011

tabaholic

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posts 24

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Is there are script that does this?

thanks for any info

5:16 pm
December 3, 2011

Jongware

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posts 764

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Post edited 5:17 pm – December 3, 2011 by Jongware

Hi Cindy!

Well not that I know of but it's easy enough. Uh, for me it is, anyway.

//DESCRIPTION:Expand US State Abbreviations
if (app.version < '6')
doReplace();
else
app.doScript(doReplace, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "Expand State Abbreviations");

function doReplace ()
{
var a;
var abbrevs = [ [ "Alabama", "AL" ], [ "Alaska", "AK" ], [ "American Samoa",
"AS" ], [ "Arizona", "AZ" ], [ "Arkansas", "AR" ], [ "California", "CA"
], [ "Colorado", "CO" ], [ "Connecticut", "CT" ], [ "Delaware", "DE" ],
[ "District Of Columbia", "DC" ], [ "Federated States Of Micronesia",
"FM" ], [ "Florida", "FL" ], [ "Georgia", "GA" ], [ "Guam Gu", "GU" ], [
"Hawaii", "HI" ], [ "Idaho", "ID" ], [ "Illinois", "IL" ], [ "Indiana",
"IN" ], [ "Iowa", "IA" ], [ "Kansas", "KS" ], [ "Kentucky", "KY" ], [
"Louisiana", "LA" ], [ "Maine", "ME" ], [ "Marshall Islands", "MH" ], [
"Maryland", "MD" ], [ "Massachusetts", "MA" ], [ "Michigan", "MI" ], [
"Minnesota", "MN" ], [ "Mississippi", "MS" ], [ "Missouri", "MO" ], [
"Montana", "MT" ], [ "Nebraska", "NE" ], [ "Nevada", "NV" ], [ "New Hampshire",
"NH" ], [ "New Jersey", "NJ" ], [ "New Mexico", "NM" ], [
"New York", "NY" ], [ "North Carolina", "NC" ], [ "North Dakota", "ND"
], [ "Northern Mariana Islands", "MP" ], [ "Ohio", "OH" ], [ "Oklahoma",
"OK" ], [ "Oregon", "OR" ], [ "Palau", "PW" ], [ "Pennsylvania", "PA" ],
[ "Puerto Rico", "PR" ], [ "Rhode Island", "RI" ], [ "South Carolina",
"SC" ], [ "South Dakota", "SD" ], [ "Tennessee", "TN" ], [ "Texas", "TX"
], [ "Utah", "UT" ], [ "Vermont", "VT" ], [ "Virgin Islands", "VI" ], [
"Virginia", "VA" ], [ "Washington", "WA" ], [ "West Virginia", "WV" ], [
"Wisconsin", "WI" ], [ "Wyoming", "WY" ] ];

app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;

for (a in abbrevs)
{
app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "\\b"+abbrevs[a][1]+"\\b";
app.changeGrepPreferences.changeTo = abbrevs[a][0];
app.activeDocument.changeGrep();
}
app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
}

6:43 pm
December 3, 2011

tabaholic

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As always, you are my hero!

4:54 am
December 4, 2011

Jongware

Member

posts 764

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Oh blushes.

Did you notice it comes with a cool "Undo" option?

12:14 pm
December 8, 2011

timruah

Community Member

posts 9

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Question from someone who's very unlearned in the whole scripting thing… how do I download this script onto my Mac?

12:19 pm
December 8, 2011

David Blatner

Admin

posts 823

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You can download this script here, for your convenience:

http://indesignsecrets.com/dow…..ations.jsx

If your browser puts a .txt at the end, remove that (it should end .jsx)

Put it in the Scripts Panel folder, which we describe here: http://indesignsecrets.com/how…..design.php

Hope that helps!

co-host, InDesignSecrets.com

12:57 pm
December 8, 2011

timruah

Community Member

posts 9

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Definitely, thanks.

9:29 am
December 9, 2011

Anne-Marie

Admin

posts 147

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We show exactly "How to download a script someone wrote out in a forum post" in video #016, ("Running a Script") in our short-and-sweet InDesignSecrets videocasts on Lynda.com!

http://www.lynda.com/InDesign-…..324-2.html

8:27 am
December 27, 2011

FrederickYocum

Akron, Pa. USA

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posts 26

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Post edited 9:12 am – December 27, 2011 by FrederickYocum
Post edited 12:40 pm – December 27, 2011 by FrederickYocum

@Jongware

Nice little script which I used on a set of business card templates that needed to go from full state names to abbreviations. I ran into an edge case however. Washington D.C. How to tell the difference?

Since the script uses grep it might be possible to do a look ahead to check for the letters D.C. or District of Columbia, I don’t know if this can be accomplished using scripting. It might be possible to do a look ahead for the postal/zip code, in fact, this would be generally useful because using postal abbrevations are usually only relevant for the state name when it is in an address block. I simply did a normal find and replace and corrected the Washingtons by hand. In any case using the script was still much quicker than 52 find and replaces.

11:01 am
December 27, 2011

Jongware

Member

posts 764

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Frederick, that's a cool reversal of the original script!

You are correct, GREP can distinguish both Washingtons using a look ahead. Change the Find entry in the abbreviations array from

[ "Washington", "WA" ]

[ "Washington(?! D\.C\.)", "WA" ]

and the problem ought to be solved — you don't have to change anything else in the script. For your other suggestion,

It might be possible to do a look ahead for the postal/zip code, in fact, this would be generally useful because using postal abbrevations are usually only relevant for the state name when it is in an address block.

I need to see some examples of what your USPS codes look like. I don't see many of those over here in Holland

1:03 pm
December 27, 2011

FrederickYocum

Akron, Pa. USA

Member

posts 26

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Thanks Jongware

American ZIP codes either contain five digits or, five digits hyphen then four additional digits. So then it would be?

["Washington(?= ddddd[ -]?)", "WA"]

3:28 pm
December 27, 2011

Jongware

Member

posts 764

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Yes, that ought to work (the forum software ate your backslahes before each '\d' — to have them appear in tour post, you need to enter 2 of 'em).

Rather than adjusting every separate string in the Find What array, you could paste this at the end of the constrcuted findWhat string.

7:02 pm
December 27, 2011

FrederickYocum

Akron, Pa. USA

Member

posts 26

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Rather than adjusting every separate string in the Find What array, you could paste this at the end of the constructed findWhat string.

Of course, brilliant!

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