Using REGEX for QA

The “Double Blank” error is the most common error found during the QA stage. When using professional computer-assisted tools (CAT) like Trados, translators have to be mindful about not adding an extra space at the end, or they will get double blanks when each segment are concatenated during the target document generation stage. But when dealing with hundreds, or even thousands, of segments, it is better to use a more advanced feature like REGEX.

For example:

In Trados, navigate to Advanced Display Filter. Then in the Target field, type \s$ (backslash may appear as \ if you have Korean keyboard settings). Don’t forget to check the box for Regular Expression. This will tell Trados to show all the segments that contain a trailing white space.

Then you can delete the spaces one by one, or use the Find/Replace for a more automated approach.

Use the same REGEX for the Find What: field, make sure the Replace with: field is blank, make sure to check the box for Use: and Regular Expressions is selected.

The translator has two choices here: 1) hit Replace All and change everything with one click, or 2) keep clicking Replace to check each instance of trailing space to make sure only what’s supposed to be deleted is getting deleted.

In a field like IT, there may be some cases where a trailing space is required. If you know for sure that what you are working with has no allowance for a trailing space, go ahead and hit Replace All!

If you want to learn more about REGEX, try https://regex101.com/