Appending from one field to another

Zifnab · 04-27-2011, 06:27 PM

Hi,
Still struggling with regex. I have a large number of entries that are from the same author and series but are entered into calibre as follows:
Title: Author author - The Series - ###
Author field: Book title
What I would like to do is copy the book title out of the author field and put it after a : and space at the end of the title field. After that, fixing putting the author into the author field is a piece of cake.
I know I can do a search in the author field for (.*?) to get the full title, but I cannot figure out how to append it to the title field so that it is entered like this:
Author author - The Series - ###: title
Can anyone give me the regex expression to do this? I don't care about clearing out the author field, I just want to copy it to the end of the title field.
Thanks.
Zifnab

DoctorOhh · 04-27-2011, 11:46 PM

I don't have the expertise to answer this question, but it would be best to learn the regex needed in preferences - Adding books so your books are imported correctly in the first place.

Manichean · 04-28-2011, 04:09 AM

You'll need to use what is called backreferences. Basically, for getting the title from the author field to the title field, search for (.*) in the author field and replace with \1 in the title field. There's a chapter on backreferences in the tutorial.
An easier way to do what you want would be to use bulk metadata edit to swap author and title and then go from there.

Zifnab · 04-28-2011, 06:50 AM

I understand back references and taking the author field and moving it to the title field is fairly simple using \1. But I would like to leave the contents of the title field intact, adding colon space at the end, then putting in the contents of the author field. I have looked at the documentation, but unless I missed it I did not see anything about adding other things and appending to the end of a field.

Manichean · 04-28-2011, 08:21 AM

Check the mode field to the right of the destination field.

chaley · 04-28-2011, 08:32 AM

Are you using bulk metadata edit search/replace? If so, you haven't noticed the Mode box, which gives the options of replace, prepend, and append.

See the attached screenshot. Fields of interest are indicated with a red arrow.

04-27-2011, 06:27 PM	#1
Zifnab Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Aluratek	Appending from one field to another Hi, Still struggling with regex. I have a large number of entries that are from the same author and series but are entered into calibre as follows: Title: Author author - The Series - ### Author field: Book title What I would like to do is copy the book title out of the author field and put it after a : and space at the end of the title field. After that, fixing putting the author into the author field is a piece of cake. I know I can do a search in the author field for (.*?) to get the full title, but I cannot figure out how to append it to the title field so that it is entered like this: Author author - The Series - ###: title Can anyone give me the regex expression to do this? I don't care about clearing out the author field, I just want to copy it to the end of the title field. Thanks. Zifnab

04-28-2011, 08:32 AM	#6
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,339 Karma: 8012652 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Are you using bulk metadata edit search/replace? If so, you haven't noticed the Mode box, which gives the options of replace, prepend, and append. See the attached screenshot. Fields of interest are indicated with a red arrow. Attached Thumbnails

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04-27-2011, 11:46 PM	#2
DoctorOhh US Navy, Retired Posts: 9,889 Karma: 13806776 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: North Carolina Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Kindle PaperWhite SE 11th Gen	I don't have the expertise to answer this question, but it would be best to learn the regex needed in preferences - Adding books so your books are imported correctly in the first place.

04-28-2011, 04:09 AM	#3
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	You'll need to use what is called backreferences. Basically, for getting the title from the author field to the title field, search for (.*) in the author field and replace with \1 in the title field. There's a chapter on backreferences in the tutorial. An easier way to do what you want would be to use bulk metadata edit to swap author and title and then go from there.

04-28-2011, 06:50 AM	#4
Zifnab Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Aluratek	I understand back references and taking the author field and moving it to the title field is fairly simple using \1. But I would like to leave the contents of the title field intact, adding colon space at the end, then putting in the contents of the author field. I have looked at the documentation, but unless I missed it I did not see anything about adding other things and appending to the end of a field.

04-28-2011, 08:21 AM	#5
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	Check the mode field to the right of the destination field.

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