Removing Returns, Preserving Paragraphs

Gideon · 06-02-2009, 01:03 AM

Is there anyway to do this easily? (And please be specific if it involves command line stuff, weird knowledge, etc.

I have a document that has hard line returns and I can remove them ALL easily, but this also removes the paragraph returns. Anything I can do to have my cake and eat it to?

HarryT · 06-02-2009, 02:09 AM

Use the "Textify" tool which I've posted to the forum several times (a search will find it). Works beautifully.

HarryT · 06-02-2009, 02:43 AM

To save you looking, it's available here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...14&postcount=2

It's a command line tool. Simply open a command prompt, type "textify", and follow the prompts on the screen.

Gideon · 06-02-2009, 03:21 AM

That didn't work out, unfortunately. But I'll keep it in mind for the future. Maybe other jobs will have more success.

HarryT · 06-02-2009, 03:24 AM

Hi Gideon,

In what way did it not work? I use it for all my books which start out as text files, and it's always worked beautifully for me.

Gideon · 06-02-2009, 03:32 AM

I got some paragraph creation, but mostly it was just huge massive blocks of text like some sort of Henry James nightmare. It just didn't find most the paragraphs.

I tried various settings, none seemed to pull it together. But this is a nasty txt file - every line has a carriage return, paragraphs do not get an extra one.

HarryT · 06-02-2009, 03:34 AM

Are you able to post the text file here? If so, I'll be happy to have a play with it myself, and see what I can do for you.

Sabardeyn · 06-02-2009, 04:28 AM

Gideon,

I'm not sure what you're looking for in the text tool you're asking about. But if you're using a PC you could check out either of these.

Notepad++ (free, available from sourceforge.net)
Notepad++, designed with programmers in mind, should be able to do any html/xml editing as well as straight text. It can use regular expressions during search & replace. But it doesn't offer much initial support if you're new to regular expressions. Great program, but sometimes their are almost too many options in it - let alone the plugins.

RegexBuddy (commercial software)
RegexBuddy is intended to help you learn regular expressions. Therefore it explains, in english, what the gobblydegook you just typed means - as far as the regex engine is concerned. It allows sample input to see if the output is correct. Must admit that the interface is a bit off-putting.

Barring any of the above, you could always check out Wikipedia, comparison of text editors, for a list of software.

rogue_ronin · 06-02-2009, 08:07 AM

Went looking for an old Windows app I used to use. Has a bit of a strange interface, but it does good things, and has undo (called backout, don't know why.) Saving is weird, too, but once you get the quirks, it works quite well.

Website's gone, but I found it here on MobileRead.

Play around with it, you may find a combination of options that work -- plus it's not command-line, so you can see what's happening immediately.

If your text file has nothing, no deducable marker for paragraphs, you may be out of luck, aside from hand-modding.

m a r

DTM · 06-02-2009, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue_ronin

...If your text file has nothing, no deducable marker for paragraphs, you may be out of luck, aside from hand-modding.

If you find yourself stuck in that mode, here is a suggestion that may help. In normal text, every paragraph should end with . ! ? " or ). If you replace every return preceded by one of those with double-return, and then eliminate the single returns, it should get you most of the way to what you need. You'll still have to check the whole thing manually, of course, to correct the mid-paragraph lines that happened to end with one of those punctuation characters.

I hope this isn't "War and Peace".

ahi · 06-02-2009, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gideon

Is there anyway to do this easily? (And please be specific if it involves command line stuff, weird knowledge, etc.

I have a document that has hard line returns and I can remove them ALL easily, but this also removes the paragraph returns. Anything I can do to have my cake and eat it to?

What is the difference between line returns and paragraph returns in your specific document?

Are paragraphs simply also indented, in addition to being line-broken?

- Ahi

DaleDe · 06-02-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahi

What is the difference between line returns and paragraph returns in your specific document?

Are paragraphs simply also indented, in addition to being line-broken?

- Ahi

Generally this is the case. Sometimes a tab character is used to start the paragraph but the idea is the same. Leading space marks a paragraph boundary rather than a blank line.

Dale

ahi · 06-02-2009, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Generally this is the case. Sometimes a tab character is used to start the paragraph but the idea is the same. Leading space marks a paragraph boundary rather than a blank line.

Dale

Could one then:

1. Replace all instances of "\n " (linebreak + 4 spaces) or "\n\t" (linebreak and tab) with "|" (pipe character).

2. Replace all instances of "\n" (linbreak) with "" (i.e.: nothing).

3. Replace all instances of "|" (pipe character) with "\n\n" (2 linebreaks).

The specifics of how to do this I cannot offer to explain, but perhaps others might... assuming my line of thinking makes sense.

- Ahi

mjh215 · 06-02-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gideon

Is there anyway to do this easily? (And please be specific if it involves command line stuff, weird knowledge, etc.

I have a document that has hard line returns and I can remove them ALL easily, but this also removes the paragraph returns. Anything I can do to have my cake and eat it to?

I use a combination of Notepad++ and Word with =X='s BookCreator macro. If you have Word, the BC macro has a word wrap fix to do just what you are asking, amongst other tools that are very helpful. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28313

-MJ

Jellby · 06-02-2009, 02:24 PM

In vim I'd do something like:

:%s/$/|$
(add a | at every end of line)

:%s/|\n\s\*/\r/g
(replace every | followed by a newline and an arbitrary number of whitespace (at least one) with just a newline)

:%s/|\n/ /g
(replace every | and newline with a space)

Now every paragraph should be a single line (if the source was that simple to begin with).

06-02-2009, 01:03 AM	#1
Gideon Wearer of Pants Posts: 1,050 Karma: 7634 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Norman, OK Device: Amazon Kindle DX / iPhone	Removing Returns, Preserving Paragraphs Is there anyway to do this easily? (And please be specific if it involves command line stuff, weird knowledge, etc. I have a document that has hard line returns and I can remove them ALL easily, but this also removes the paragraph returns. Anything I can do to have my cake and eat it to?

06-02-2009, 08:07 AM	#9
rogue_ronin Banned Posts: 475 Karma: 796 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Honolulu Device: Nokia 770 (fbreader)	Went looking for an old Windows app I used to use. Has a bit of a strange interface, but it does good things, and has undo (called backout, don't know why.) Saving is weird, too, but once you get the quirks, it works quite well. Website's gone, but I found it here on MobileRead. Play around with it, you may find a combination of options that work -- plus it's not command-line, so you can see what's happening immediately. If your text file has nothing, no deducable marker for paragraphs, you may be out of luck, aside from hand-modding. m a r Last edited by rogue_ronin; 06-02-2009 at 08:08 AM. Reason: bad link

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06-02-2009, 02:09 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Use the "Textify" tool which I've posted to the forum several times (a search will find it). Works beautifully.

06-02-2009, 02:43 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	To save you looking, it's available here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...14&postcount=2 It's a command line tool. Simply open a command prompt, type "textify", and follow the prompts on the screen.

06-02-2009, 03:21 AM	#4
Gideon Wearer of Pants Posts: 1,050 Karma: 7634 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Norman, OK Device: Amazon Kindle DX / iPhone	That didn't work out, unfortunately. But I'll keep it in mind for the future. Maybe other jobs will have more success.

06-02-2009, 03:24 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Hi Gideon, In what way did it not work? I use it for all my books which start out as text files, and it's always worked beautifully for me.

06-02-2009, 03:32 AM	#6
Gideon Wearer of Pants Posts: 1,050 Karma: 7634 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Norman, OK Device: Amazon Kindle DX / iPhone	I got some paragraph creation, but mostly it was just huge massive blocks of text like some sort of Henry James nightmare. It just didn't find most the paragraphs. I tried various settings, none seemed to pull it together. But this is a nasty txt file - every line has a carriage return, paragraphs do not get an extra one.

06-02-2009, 03:34 AM	#7
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Are you able to post the text file here? If so, I'll be happy to have a play with it myself, and see what I can do for you.

06-02-2009, 04:28 AM	#8
Sabardeyn Guru Posts: 644 Karma: 1242364 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Right Coast Device: PC (Calibre), Nexus 7 2013 (Moon+ Pro), HTC HD2/Leo (Freda)	Gideon, I'm not sure what you're looking for in the text tool you're asking about. But if you're using a PC you could check out either of these. Notepad++ (free, available from sourceforge.net) Notepad++, designed with programmers in mind, should be able to do any html/xml editing as well as straight text. It can use regular expressions during search & replace. But it doesn't offer much initial support if you're new to regular expressions. Great program, but sometimes their are almost too many options in it - let alone the plugins. RegexBuddy (commercial software) RegexBuddy is intended to help you learn regular expressions. Therefore it explains, in english, what the gobblydegook you just typed means - as far as the regex engine is concerned. It allows sample input to see if the output is correct. Must admit that the interface is a bit off-putting. Barring any of the above, you could always check out Wikipedia, comparison of text editors, for a list of software.

06-02-2009, 02:24 PM	#15
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,516 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	In vim I'd do something like: :%s/$/\|$ (add a \| at every end of line) :%s/\|\n\s\*/\r/g (replace every \| followed by a newline and an arbitrary number of whitespace (at least one) with just a newline) :%s/\|\n/ /g (replace every \| and newline with a space) Now every paragraph should be a single line (if the source was that simple to begin with).

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