Regex Question involving multiple . (periods)

[hanbalfrek]

Sorry if this has been asked, but I've tried google and searching this forum and came up empty.

I'm trying to import books with author names with multiple periods in them, such as

George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones

A. A. Attanasio - In Other Worlds

A. Bertram Chandler - All Laced Up

C. S. Friedman - The Wilding

and none of them come up correctly.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

Sorry if this has been asked, but I've tried google and searching this forum and came up empty.

I'm trying to import books with author names with multiple periods in them, such as

George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones

A. A. Attanasio - In Other Worlds

A. Bertram Chandler - All Laced Up

C. S. Friedman - The Wilding

and none of them come up correctly.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

to match only periods, they need to be escaped.

\.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

I'm trying to import books with author names with multiple periods in them, such as

George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones

A. A. Attanasio - In Other Worlds

A. Bertram Chandler - All Laced Up

C. S. Friedman - The Wilding

and none of them come up correctly.

What regex are you using for import?

I use the following regex under Preferences - Adding Books for importing books with the author first.

^((?P<author>([^\-_0-9]+)(?=\s*-\s*)(?!\s*-\s*[0-9.]+)|\b))(\s*-\s*)?((?P<series>[^0-9\-]+)(\s*-\s*)?(?P<series_index>[0-9.]+)\s*-\s*)?(?P<title>[^\-_0-9]+)

It works on the books you gave as an example.

Good Luck.

[hanbalfrek]

I'm not replicating the success you're getting, but I think that's because I have a bigger problem.

Using the default regex to test in the test tool in Adding Books, I'm not even getting the right response for a basic

(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)

Test Title - Test Author

gives me

Title: No match
Authors: Unknown

I tried uninstalling/reinstalling the application, but that didn't help.

Any ideas about this? Is something corrupt?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

I'm not replicating the success you're getting, but I think that's because I have a bigger problem.

Using the default regex to test in the test tool in Adding Books, I'm not even getting the right response for a basic

(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)

Test Title - Test Author

gives me

Title: No match
Authors: Unknown

I tried uninstalling/reinstalling the application, but that didn't help.

Any ideas about this? Is something corrupt?

Settings are saved in the configuration directory.
Un-installing does not touch your settings or Library.

Kill the configuration directory (after un-installing),
then install to remove corrupted settings

[hanbalfrek]

Thanks for the quick reply, but no dice.

It still doesn't work.

[hanbalfrek]

New update.

The test function doesnt work, but actually importing the files come out correct.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[hanbalfrek]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

What regex are you using for import?

I use the following regex under Preferences - Adding Books for importing books with the author first.

^((?P<author>([^\-_0-9]+)(?=\s*-\s*)(?!\s*-\s*[0-9.]+)|\b))(\s*-\s*)?((?P<series>[^0-9\-]+)(\s*-\s*)?(?P<series_index>[0-9.]+)\s*-\s*)?(?P<title>[^\-_0-9]+)

It works on the books you gave as an example.

Good Luck.

Hey dwanthny,

Thanks for the last one. I got another one for you.

I have another directory of books that go

Rim Change - A. Bertram Chandler - Grimes 046

and I've modified your code to get title and author, but can't get series/index.


I changed it to

^(?P<title>[^\-_0-9]+)(\s*-\s*)((?P<author>([^\-_0-9]+)(?=\s*-\s*)(?!\s*-\s*[0-9.]+)|\b))(\s*-\s*)?((?P<series>[^0-9\-]+)(\s*-\s*)?(?P<series_index>[0-9.]+)\s*-\s*)?

test-A. Bertram Chandler - Grimes 046.pdf

becomes
Title: test
Authors: A. Bertram Chandler
Series: No match
Series index: No match

Thanks again!

[user_none]

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)

Test Title - Test Author
gives me
Title: No match
Authors: Unknown

Any ideas about this? Is something corrupt?

The test input requires a file extension. E.G. "Test Title - Test Author.epub"

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

The test function doesnt work, but actually importing the files come out correct.

As user_none says the test function requires a complete file name to work, including the extension.

Rim Change - A. Bertram Chandler - Grimes 046.epub

Adding the books extension allows you to use the test box successfully.

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

Rim Change - A. Bertram Chandler - Grimes 046

and I've modified your code to get title and author, but can't get series/index.

becomes
Title: test
Authors: A. Bertram Chandler
Series: No match
Series index: No match

I don't understand them fully, but I can rearrange ones that work.

Try

^((?P<title>([^\-_0-9]+)(?=\s*-\s*)(?!\s*-\s*[0-9.]+)|\b))(\s*-\s*)?((?P<author>[^\-_0-9]+)\s*-\s*)?(?P<series>[^0-9\-]+)(\s*-\s*)?(?P<series_index>[0-9.]+)

[hanbalfrek]

Originally Posted by user_none

The test input requires a file extension. E.G. "Test Title - Test Author.epub"

Thanks for that! Exactly what the problem was.

Originally Posted by dwanthny

I don't understand them fully, but I can rearrange ones that work.

Try

^((?P<title>([^\-_0-9]+)(?=\s*-\s*)(?!\s*-\s*[0-9.]+)|\b))(\s*-\s*)?((?P<author>[^\-_0-9]+)\s*-\s*)?(?P<series>[^0-9\-]+)(\s*-\s*)?(?P<series_index>[0-9.]+)

Thanks again! That worked!
I was able to edit the end so that the series was not necessary, but I still gotta study regex more to understand why I'm having such problems with the first two fields on my own.

Edited one is:

^((?P<title>([^\-_0-9]+)(?=\s*-\s*)(?!\s*-\s*[0-9.]+)|\b))(\s*-\s*)?((?P<author>[^\-_0-9]+))?(\s*-\s*(?P<series>[^0-9\-]+)(\s*-\s*)?(?P<series_index>[0-9.]+)?)?

Thanks again everyone!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by hanbalfrek

Thanks again! That worked!

You're welcome!

Also the Quick Preferences GUI plugin (see attached) allows you to quickly change add books settings from the toolbar without drilling down in the main preferences section.