Specific RegEx Help

[FDPuthuff]

Hey all my smart peeps,

I have a specific regex question and was told this would be a better part of these boards to ask it. If not, just let me know.

I am preparing an MS Word document to be transformed into an E-pub doc.

I have these page numbers and header text I need to erase throughout the document. (As seen in the attached image)

Is there a regex line I could use to find all of these?

[phillipgessert]

I would try something like:

\n\n\d{1,}\n\n.*[a-z]\n\n

Which is two newlines, + one or more digits, + 2 more newlines, + a string ending on a lowercase letter, + two newlines. It'll take some wrangling to rework that into Word's "regex," but if you rip it into something else that ought to work directly. Take care though if any of those headers end on anything other than a lowercase letter (trailing whitespace, punctuation mark, etc.).

[FDPuthuff]

Thank you sir

[Quoth]

Why aren't headers and page numbers not part of the page style and thus easily removed globally with a few seconds editing?

ANY GUI based wordprocessor I've used in nearly 30 years simply had check boxes to untick to delete that stuff. Including Word 2.0a, Office 4.3, Office 95, Office 2000, Office XP, Word 2003 and Word 2007. I still have all those.

[PeterT]

I have a hunch that this might be a downloaded DOC of a copyrighted book that someone wants to convert to an ebook.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I have a hunch that this might be a downloaded DOC of a copyrighted book that someone wants to convert to an ebook.

That was my first reaction, but looking at the OP more closely, isn't it more likely a manuscript sent to and editor by a clueless author?

[DNSB]

Looking at the text snippet in the OP's message, it appears to match with text in The Flight of the Griffin by C. M. Gray which was copyrighted in 2012 and close to text in An Uncommon Evening by Gecko posted in 2004.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I have a hunch that this might be a downloaded DOC of a copyrighted book that someone wants to convert to an ebook.

It looks like a PDF conversion from a book titled The Flight of the Griffin by C.M. Gray. It's available on Kindle Unlimited. So yes, helping to fix the PDF conversion is helping the OP to fix a pirated eBook. I suggest not helping.

Here is the first chapter (legally).
http://pirategrl1014.blogspot.com/20...f-griffin.html

Here is the link to the eBook on Amazon US.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TKUD7Y

My question is why is a supposed editor converting a PDF conversion into ePub when the eBook already exists on Amazon?

[phillipgessert]

Sorry folks, piracy didn’t even occur to me. What’s the etiquette here, should I remove my answer? Not that it was necessarily a particularly strong one.

[Quoth]

Well, that explains the stupidity of not editing the source. The OP just needs to buy the real ebook.

[PeterT]

The OPs profile links to a web site. He is a copy editor / proof reader / ebook formatter

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Looking at the text snippet in the OP's message, it appears to match with text in The Flight of the Griffin by C. M. Gray which was copyrighted in 2012 and close to text in An Uncommon Evening by Gecko posted in 2004.

Yup - I concur with the origin of the image. The book linked on amazon is even available "for free" with kindle unlimited. I'm not sure why someone would be paying an editor for a book that's already published??

[j.p.s]

In light of DNSB's finding, things certainly look suspicious.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by FDPuthuff

I am preparing an MS Word document to be transformed into an E-pub doc.

I have these page numbers and header text I need to erase throughout the document. (As seen in the attached image)

Is there a regex line I could use to find all of these?

See my posts from 2016 in:

"Delete paragraphs in scanned books (S & R with regexes)"

I used regex to remove 5 different variations of "page numbers", leftover headers/footers, and other cruft.

I also broke all the regex down step-by-step + color-coded.

Once you learn the basic concepts, the regex from that thread can be adjusted to fit your specific case.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So yes, helping to fix the PDF conversion is helping the OP to fix a pirated eBook. I suggest not helping.

JSWolf, you really should stop this constant anti-"piracy" inquisition.

Originally Posted by phillipgessert

Sorry folks, piracy didn’t even occur to me. What’s the etiquette here, should I remove my answer? Not that it was necessarily a particularly strong one.

Meh. Just answer the question.

If the OP actually links directly to piracy sites, then the mods would deal with it or lock the thread.

If you believe unfounded claims of "piracy", then just ignore the thread.

If you want to be helpful—and who knows who would stumble upon this thread and ALSO have X problem—then I always answer.

Originally Posted by phillipgessert

My question is why is a supposed editor converting a PDF conversion into ePub when the eBook already exists on Amazon?

This happens all the time.

Sometimes the only copies left are scans/PDFs, and the author lost (or doesn't have access to) the source files.

For example, the author may have:

1. the original DOCX (maybe, if you're lucky)
3. the final PDF

But they don't have:

2. The source files (InDesign, etc.)

The final PDF is the only proofed copy.

The original + final documents are way too far apart (hundreds/thousands of changes could've occurred between 2->3).

So many times, it's sometimes easiest to work backwards from the PDF.

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Yup - I concur with the origin of the image. The book linked on amazon is even available "for free" with kindle unlimited. I'm not sure why someone would be paying an editor for a book that's already published??

I get paid to re-clean older/bad conversions all the time.

If the initial conversion was a disaster, lots of errors were left in (Amazon KQNs, etc. etc.).

(See that absolutely fantastic talk I linked to last year, "Building Ebooks that Last" + discussing cleaning up the backlist.)

[JSWolf]

It's not an anti-piracy inquisition. I found the eBook is already published at Amazon and available to either buy or borrow from Kindle Unlimited. Why would an editor be asked for help to edit an eBook that's already edited/published and available? If this isn't piracy, what is?

I did not ask if this was a pirated eBook. I did not make any claims without evidence. I found a sample chapter of this eBook and then traced the full eBook to Amazon.