I have many invalid // comments in Strings files, is there a quick fix?

[Jeehut]

As Xcode never complains when adding comments starting with // like in Swift files, many project have lots of // comments in Strings files. But RemafoX doesn't seem to support this kind of comments and complains about them. Is there a way I can quickly convert from the invalid commenting style to the valid one?

[Jeehut]

While Xcode seems to support // comments right now, we can't be sure if this will continue to work in future versions. Also, other tooling might refer to the official syntax documentation as well, which only allows C-style /* ... */ comments. Therefore we we think it's better to enforce our users have Strings files with a correct syntax to prevent any potential problems occurring.

You don't need to convert all // comments to /* ... */ style comments manually though. We can make use of Xcodes built-in Find & Replace functionality and their Support for Regexes – don't worry, we have created the Regex for you.

Step-by-Step Migration Guide

1. First, make sure to commit any changes in your project (so you can verify the changes or revert if things go wrong)
2. Open your project in Xcode
3. Select the Find Navigator by pressing the 🔎 icon on the left sidebar
4. Press the left button below the search text field
5. Press "New Scope..." and set the filters to "File extension – is equal to – strings" (you can also give the scope a name)
6. Above the search text field, select "Replace" > "Regular Expression"
7. Copy the following Regex into the first text field: ^//(.*)$
8. Copy the following replacement into the second text field: /*$1 */
9. Now press "Replace All" – that's it, you can now verify the changes in version control!

This is what the scope & sidebar will look like:

If you run into any issues with the above guide or have questions, don't hesitate to comment. I hope it helps!