How to remove every other line in Visual Studio code

Problem

I was using FileZilla to download a PHP file from a server and when it finished transferring, I noticed that a space had been added in between every other line of code. It was really strange and I have no idea why it happened. I tried opening the file in a text editor and the spaces were definitely there, so it wasn't just a visual issue. I had to go through and manually delete all of the extra spaces before I could use the file. It was a bit of a hassle, but I was able to fix it eventually.

At first, I assumed that the strange spacing in the PHP file I downloaded from the server was just a visual bug with my text editor. However, when I downloaded a second PHP file and it had the same issue, I knew it was something more. The second file was over 2000 lines long, so manually removing all of the extra spaces was out of the question. I decided to search the internet for a solution and ended up finding some helpful information that I wanted to share in case anyone else encounters this problem.

Solution

In this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to quickly delete every other line in the Visual Studio Code text editor using a single command.

Step 1:

    Press CTRL+H to open the 'Find and Replace' window.

    

Step 2:

    Press the icon with the dot and the star to enable Regex. Once clicked it will be highlighted, so you know if you've clicked it.

    

Step 3:

    In the 'Find' field, enter '(.*)\n\1\n'. This will find every line and place them in groups of 2.

    

Step 4:

    In the 'Replace' field, enter '$1\n'. This will replace the last line in every group.

    

Now you just click the 'Replace All' button (CTRL+ALT+ENTER), and then every other line space will be removed, making the file cleaner and much easier to work on.

I hope this tutorial was able to help you solve your issue with the file. If you were unable to fix it, please don't hesitate to leave a comment describing the problem you are experiencing. I will do my best to assist you and provide a solution to the issue.