Find/Replace wildcard?

bookimp13 · 08-29-2024, 06:32 PM

I'm trying to replace this

<head><title>DSF Chapter 3 Chapter 3</title>

With this

<head><title>Chapter 3</title>

And while I could certainly get rid of 'DSF Chapter ' I'm not sure how to get rid of that 3.

I'm definitely a newbie to Sigil so please use 'Sigil for dummies' phrases

KevinH · 08-29-2024, 08:04 PM

What you are looking for is called Regular Expression Find and Replace (aka regex).
This mode enable placeholders for specific character classes. Digits are represented by \d,
and a following + sign means 1 or more.

So set Sigil's Find and Replace Mode to Regex.

Try using something like the following in the Find Field:

DSF Chapter \d+

Before making any big Find Replace changes, I would make a Checkpoint just in case a big find and replace does not work the way you expect.

Sigil also has a DryRun Find and Replace command that will show you all the Find and Replaces done in context but not actually perform them, so you can test your regex expressions first.

Turtle91 · 08-29-2024, 08:16 PM

Try:

Find: <title>.*?Chapter\s*(\d*?)\s*.*?</title>
Replace: <title>Chapter \1</title>

<title> & </title> are just the bounding tags
.*? is any number (or none) of any characters
\s* is any number (or none) spaces
(\d+?) is 1 or more numerical digits and it remembers what it finds

The Replace simply inserts the remembered digits into the phrase using the \1.

There are some good regex tutorials that will really help when editing code. It doesn't take long to get the basics....it does take forever to become a master... I'm definitely not there yet!

Make sure you focus on the PCRE flavor of Regex...that is what Sigil uses.

Cheers,

bookimp13 · 08-29-2024, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

What you are looking for is called Regular Expression Find and Replace (aka regex).
This mode enable placeholders for specific character classes. Digits are represented by \d,
and a following + sign means 1 or more.

So set Sigil's Find and Replace Mode to Regex.

Try using something like the following in the Find Field:

DSF Chapter \d+

Before making any big Find Replace changes, I would make a Checkpoint just in case a big find and replace does not work the way you expect.

Sigil also has a DryRun Find and Replace command that will show you all the Find and Replaces done in context but not actually perform them, so you can test your regex expressions first.

This worked great thank you!

bookimp13 · 08-29-2024, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Try:

Find: <title>.*?Chapter\s*(\d*?)\s*.*?</title>
Replace: <title>Chapter \1</title>

<title> & </title> are just the bounding tags
.*? is any number (or none) of any characters
\s* is any number (or none) spaces
(\d+?) is 1 or more numerical digits and it remembers what it finds

The Replace simply inserts the remembered digits into the phrase using the \1.

There are some good regex tutorials that will really help when editing code. It doesn't take long to get the basics....it does take forever to become a master... I'm definitely not there yet!

Make sure you focus on the PCRE flavor of Regex...that is what Sigil uses.

Cheers,

Bookmarked thanks!

08-29-2024, 06:32 PM	#1
bookimp13 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2022 Device: Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019)	Find/Replace wildcard? I'm trying to replace this <head><title>DSF Chapter 3 Chapter 3</title> With this <head><title>Chapter 3</title> And while I could certainly get rid of 'DSF Chapter ' I'm not sure how to get rid of that 3. I'm definitely a newbie to Sigil so please use 'Sigil for dummies' phrases

08-29-2024, 08:04 PM	#2
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,156 Karma: 5450818 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	What you are looking for is called Regular Expression Find and Replace (aka regex). This mode enable placeholders for specific character classes. Digits are represented by \d, and a following + sign means 1 or more. So set Sigil's Find and Replace Mode to Regex. Try using something like the following in the Find Field: DSF Chapter \d+ Before making any big Find Replace changes, I would make a Checkpoint just in case a big find and replace does not work the way you expect. Sigil also has a DryRun Find and Replace command that will show you all the Find and Replaces done in context but not actually perform them, so you can test your regex expressions first. Last edited by KevinH; 08-29-2024 at 08:10 PM.

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08-29-2024, 08:16 PM	#3
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,220 Karma: 19000635 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	Try: Find: <title>.?Chapter\s(\d?)\s.?</title> Replace: <title>Chapter \1</title> <title> & </title> are just the bounding tags .? is any number (or none) of any characters \s* is any number (or none) spaces (\d+?) is 1 or more numerical digits and it remembers what it finds The Replace simply inserts the remembered digits into the phrase using the \1. There are some good regex tutorials that will really help when editing code. It doesn't take long to get the basics....it does take forever to become a master... I'm definitely not there yet! Make sure you focus on the PCRE flavor of Regex...that is what Sigil uses. Cheers,