Regex question

[Hendrixxxxxxxx]

This may not even be possible, but you don't know until you ask, right?

I am trying to capitalise the first word of every chapter. Easy enough to do manually (just highlight the word and hit the uppercase button, or the keyboard shortcut).

I was wondering if it was possible to do via "Find and Replace". The "find" is no problem, its the "replace" I am struggling with.

Possible, or no?

Phil

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Hendrixxxxxxxx

I was wondering if it was possible to do via "Find and Replace". The "find" is no problem, its the "replace" I am struggling with.

If you've already figured out the find part and captured the first word as \1 you could use something like \U\1\E as the replacement value.

For specific examples, see this old post of mine.

[sherman]

It is possible. See here. Specifically, note: Perl String Features in Regular Expressions and Replacement Texts, although Sigil notation is a little different to Perl.

A simple example. Suppose you had the text:

<h2>chapter two</h2>

The following search and replace:

Search = <h2>(.+?)</h2>

Replace = <h2>\u\1</h2>

And the result:

<h2>Chapter one</h2>

Obviously, you can make it as simple or as complex as you like.

Hope this helps.

[exaltedwombat]

Is this a client's requirement? If not, you might reconsider. This sort of things, like drop capitals, can be attractively decorative on paper, but often looks merely odd on an e-reader screen.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Is this a client's requirement? If not, you might reconsider. This sort of things, like drop capitals, can be attractively decorative on paper, but often looks merely odd on an e-reader screen.

Drop caps can be relatively easy implemented using pseudo selectors, which are ignored by older readers. I.e., you won't need to implement fallback styles, if you can live with the fact that users of older readers won't see drop caps.
You could for example use ::first-letter to apply drop caps formatting to the first letter of a paragraph or ::first-line to apply small caps to the first line of a paragraph.

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Drop caps can be relatively easy implemented using pseudo selectors, which are ignored by older readers. I.e., you won't need to implement fallback styles, if you can live with the fact that users of older readers won't see drop caps.
You could for example use ::first-letter to apply drop caps formatting to the first letter of a paragraph or ::first-line to apply small caps to the first line of a paragraph.

Indeed. My point was that, even when such text decoration is successfully displayed, it just looks fussy on-screen.

[Hendrixxxxxxxx]

Thanks all. I had seen the \U\E somewhere, but couldn't work out how to get it to work in the "replace" box.

That works perfectly - and Doitsu, thanks for the link to your earlier post. I DID search, but I didn't see that one. Appreciate all your help.

Wombat. Appreciate your thoughts. I am capitalising the first word (unless it is a name, in which case it is the whole name), with the first letter full size and the subsequent ones about 80% small-caps. The content, and hence the "feel" I am trying to create, of the book is of one which could have been published at the turn of the last century....to my mind, this achieves this relatively simply and "unfussily". I agree with you though that drop caps (although I have used them) are often a bit much.....

Phil

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Indeed. My point was that, even when such text decoration is successfully displayed, it just looks fussy on-screen.

That's just one opinion (unsuccessfully dressed up like a fact). Anybody who gets fussed over a successfully displayed single raised/dropped capital (letter or word) is just looking for things to get fussed over (and can probably easily un-fuss it themselves anyway). There's still a large contingent of readers (the human kind) who actually enjoy a little tasteful artistic expression where ebook layout is concerned. I welcome your "pouring-text-into-a-bucket" analogy with regard to flowing text and "pages," but don't at all welcome it when it gets used as an excuse to homogenize the formatting of all books into one archetypal formula. Blecch! Hope it never comes to pass.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Blecch! Hope it never comes to pass.

If there was a homogeneous book style, there would be no need for stylesheets.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL

'Pour from a bucket' reminds me of the Load of Manure I order from the farm.

OK for the garden,
But not my reader

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Hendrixxxxxxxx

Thanks all. I had seen the \U\E somewhere, but couldn't work out how to get it to work in the "replace" box.

That works perfectly - and Doitsu, thanks for the link to your earlier post. I DID search, but I didn't see that one. Appreciate all your help.

Wombat. Appreciate your thoughts. I am capitalising the first word (unless it is a name, in which case it is the whole name), with the first letter full size and the subsequent ones about 80% small-caps. The content, and hence the "feel" I am trying to create, of the book is of one which could have been published at the turn of the last century....to my mind, this achieves this relatively simply and "unfussily". I agree with you though that drop caps (although I have used them) are often a bit much.....

Phil

DANGER! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!!

Phil, if you are planning on selling that ePUB on B&N, or your client is, I can absolutely promise you that trying to do a full-size cap with smallcaps follow-on lettering will cause you all sorts of agita on a B&N device.

If you use several spans (IOW, more than one) on the first line of a paragraph, in a B&N ePUB, it will either: a) break bizarrely, with strange world hyphenation, mid-word (think...D-og), or b) the first letter will stay where it is supposed to, and the smallcaps remainder will, I kid thee not, align, one letter at a time, vertically on the page, against the left-margin edge. The double-span use breaks the hyphenation rendering engine, and you get weird, weird, WEIRD results. Not one of them works worth a damn.

The Nook rendering engine purely HATES what you are trying to do. If you searched hard enough, you'll find a really old post of mine--what, guys, anyone remember? 2010 or 11? Maybe even 09?--on this very topic.

It's remotely possible that they've fixed it, but whatever you do, test test and test again, if you are planning on Nook distro.

Offered FWIW.

ETA: That thread was here, and I repeated the same issue in 2014, so, as of 2014, it was not fixed: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=232395

Hitch

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

That's just one opinion (unsuccessfully dressed up like a fact). <snippage> I welcome your "pouring-text-into-a-bucket" analogy with regard to flowing text and "pages," but don't at all welcome it when it gets used as an excuse to homogenize the formatting of all books into one archetypal formula. Blecch! Hope it never comes to pass.

The "inadequate" guy (did I phrase that that way aloud? Really? Tsk.) would LOVE homogenization!!! You'd be his hero!

Hitch

[rubeus]

Originally Posted by Hitch

a) break bizarrely, with strange world hyphenation

As if the world isn't broken enough these days...

[Hendrixxxxxxxx]

Originally Posted by Hitch

DANGER! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!!

Thanks Hitch. I'll have a look into your past ('09? How old ARE you? ) when I get a few mins. Working on another problem at the moment....

In any event, not selling anything anywhere - its just me trying to learn.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by rubeus

As if the world isn't broken enough these days...

You know, I think I'll leave it. Just so's you guys always remember that I'm not, actually, infallible.

Originally Posted by Hendrixxxxxxxx

Thanks Hitch. I'll have a look into your past ('09? How old ARE you? ) when I get a few mins. Working on another problem at the moment....

Gosh, thanks. As if I didn't already feel decrepit.

In any event, not selling anything anywhere - its just me trying to learn.

In that case, go ahead and use it. But, you've been warned that the Adobe rendering engine might eat your text for breakfast! ;-)

Best,
Hitch

[Hendrixxxxxxxx]

Originally Posted by Hitch

:In that case, go ahead and use it. But, you've been warned that the Adobe rendering engine might eat your text for breakfast! ;-)

Best,
Hitch

Noted. Thanks Hitch.

Interesting ADE seems to handle it OK. Must be just a Nook specific thing. I don't have a Nook, so can't test it....but I don't have a Nook so nor do I need to.