[ownedbycats]

New question:

I have a composite colum, #chapters, which formats the chapter count:

program:
	input = $#kobobookmark;
# Don't change this to 'count' as that's a function
	ccount = $$#chaptercount;

	if 
## Checks that a Fanfiction has a Kobo bookmark of the right format and is not anthology|oneshot
		$#booktype=='Fanfiction'
		&& substr(input, 0, 10) == 'OEBPS/file'
## I'm not sure why this line is backwards
		&& $#fanficstatus in 'Anthology,Oneshot'
	then
## Extracts number from bookmark, subtracts 1, and then formats them as 'currentchap/totalchap'
		strcat(format_number(re(input, '.*\/file(\d+).*', '\1') - 1, '{0:,d}'), '/',ccount)

## Display 'Not Set' if there's no chapter count
	elif
		ccount == 'None'
	then
		'Not Set'

## Display regular chapter count - ignore '1' on most books (magazines, reference books, etc)
	elif
		$#booktype=='Fanfiction'
		||ccount >#1
	then
		ccount
	fi

If the conditionals match, lines the first if-then makes a result that looks like '10/20' or '5/5.' (I use this to track how many chapters I've read in a fanfic. )

I have a stored template, fanfic_unreadchaps(), that checks the composite column and subtracts the first number from the second. 10/20 produces '10' and 5/5 produces '0.'

program:
	if '/' in $#chapters then
		f = re($#chapters, '(.*)/.*', '\1');
		s = re($#chapters, '.*/(.*)', '\1');
		(s - f)
	fi

This is used in several places; saved searches, column colour/icon rules, action chains templates.

Would performance improve much if I used something like this, that checked the relevant columns directly rather than the composite?

program:
input = $#kobobookmark;
	if 
		$#booktype == 'Fanfiction'
		&& substr(input, 0, 10) == 'OEBPS/file'
		&& !$#fanficstatus in 'Anthology,Oneshot'
	then
		currentchap = re(input, '.*\/file(\d+).*', '\1') - 1;
		totalchap = $#chaptercount;

		totalchap - currentchap
	fi