Those pesky <?> !

p3aul · 12-30-2010, 07:10 AM

I get these "?" characters in place of ' and " in my txt files when they are converted to epubs. I've tried saving these files as different character encoding including plain ascii, UTF-8 and Unicode and I simply can't get rid of them. It makes my epubs look horrible. When I loaded the txt file into word and chose to import using UTF-8 I didn't have the "?" but instead there were no ' and " at all. When I saved it as an rtf and converted that to epub, the ? were back.

Incidentally, I use The command line command ebook-convert exclusively to do my conversions.

Could someone help me with this?

Thanks,
Paul

jackie_w · 12-30-2010, 07:57 AM

If you can post a section of your TXT file containing some badly-behaving quotes, I'll have a go. A section of the original TXT before you started experimenting would be preferable.

p3aul · 12-30-2010, 11:24 AM

Ok here's a sample cut & pasted.

?I think he?s only violent with their dog. But if this Carl does want to
take a whack at me, that?s okay, ?cause I have you.?

?Me? I?m an architect.?

?Not tonight, sweetie. Tonight, you?re muscle.?

Brian had accompanied her on other missions like this, but never
previously after midnight to the home of a crazy violent drunk.

?What if I have a testosterone deficiency??

I don't know what good it will do, but there it is

Thanks,
Paul

theducks · 12-30-2010, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p3aul

Ok here's a sample cut & pasted.

Spoiler:

I don't know what good it will do, but there it is

Thanks,
Paul

Setting cp1252 would (most likely) fix that in the GUI
--input-encoding CP1252 <check my syntax please

Starson17 · 12-30-2010, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p3aul

Ok here's a sample cut & pasted.

?I think he?s only violent with their dog. But if this Carl does want to
take a whack at me, that?s okay, ?cause I have you.?

?Me? I?m an architect.?

?Not tonight, sweetie. Tonight, you?re muscle.?

Brian had accompanied her on other missions like this, but never
previously after midnight to the home of a crazy violent drunk.

?What if I have a testosterone deficiency??

I don't know what good it will do, but there it is

Thanks,
Paul

You need to put the original problem text into a file and post that. It will have codes for the text that allow some indication of what the problem is. Cutting and pasting text doesn't give the original codes.

p3aul · 12-30-2010, 03:38 PM

OK, Sorry about that here it is. file save was ANSI
Thanks,
Paul

jackie_w · 12-30-2010, 03:55 PM

I could be wrong, but if that is your original source, it looks as if the quotes characters have already been lost.

theducks · 12-30-2010, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I could be wrong, but if that is your original source, it looks as if the quotes characters have already been lost.

That is what Notepad++ shows. ? not curly quotes

p3aul · 12-30-2010, 08:50 PM

It was html at first. I used ebook-convert to convert it to text. All appeared normal and I converted it then from txt to epub. That when the ? replaced the quote marks. I went back then saved the html page as text. That's when the quote marks were replaced by ? in the text file. The file you saw was from the html saved as text.
Paul

theducks · 12-30-2010, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p3aul

It was html at first. I used ebook-convert to convert it to text. All appeared normal and I converted it then from txt to epub. That when the ? replaced the quote marks. I went back then saved the html page as text. That's when the quote marks were replaced by ? in the text file. The file you saw was from the html saved as text.
Paul

You cant do that

'Text' is the lower 128 ASCII chart.

Convert the Original HTML with CP1252 specified and all should go well.

p3aul · 12-30-2010, 10:04 PM

Is that Western (Windows-1252) in FF under "View->Character Encoding" ?
Thanks,
Paul

DoctorOhh · 12-31-2010, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p3aul

Is that Western (Windows-1252) in FF under "View->Character Encoding" ?
Thanks,
Paul

Check out this area of the FAQ, specifically #2.

Sorry I can't help you with the command line interface.

p3aul · 01-01-2011, 01:23 AM

At last

I used --input-encoding "Windows-1252" on the command line to force the encoding to 1252. that was the only thing that would work. Even though FF "said" the encoding was 1252, it wasn't. I will do this from now on when I have an HTML file.

Thanks to all my helpers!

Paul

DoctorOhh · 01-01-2011, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p3aul

At last

I used --input-encoding "Windows-1252" on the command line to force the encoding to 1252. that was the only thing that would work. Even though FF "said" the encoding was 1252, it wasn't. I will do this from now on when I have an HTML file.

Thanks to all my helpers!

Paul

Automatically setting this encoding may cause more problems then it solves. Just make sure to check for proper quotes and apostrophes after each html conversion.

12-30-2010, 07:10 AM	#1
p3aul Captain Courageous Posts: 239 Karma: 102 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: calibre, PRS 505	Those pesky <?> ! I get these "?" characters in place of ' and " in my txt files when they are converted to epubs. I've tried saving these files as different character encoding including plain ascii, UTF-8 and Unicode and I simply can't get rid of them. It makes my epubs look horrible. When I loaded the txt file into word and chose to import using UTF-8 I didn't have the "?" but instead there were no ' and " at all. When I saved it as an rtf and converted that to epub, the ? were back. Incidentally, I use The command line command ebook-convert exclusively to do my conversions. Could someone help me with this? Thanks, Paul

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12-30-2010, 07:57 AM	#2
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,248 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	If you can post a section of your TXT file containing some badly-behaving quotes, I'll have a go. A section of the original TXT before you started experimenting would be preferable.

12-30-2010, 11:24 AM	#3
p3aul Captain Courageous Posts: 239 Karma: 102 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: calibre, PRS 505	Ok here's a sample cut & pasted. ?I think he?s only violent with their dog. But if this Carl does want to take a whack at me, that?s okay, ?cause I have you.? ?Me? I?m an architect.? ?Not tonight, sweetie. Tonight, you?re muscle.? Brian had accompanied her on other missions like this, but never previously after midnight to the home of a crazy violent drunk. ?What if I have a testosterone deficiency?? I don't know what good it will do, but there it is Thanks, Paul

12-30-2010, 03:55 PM	#7
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,248 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	I could be wrong, but if that is your original source, it looks as if the quotes characters have already been lost.

12-30-2010, 08:50 PM	#9
p3aul Captain Courageous Posts: 239 Karma: 102 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: calibre, PRS 505	It was html at first. I used ebook-convert to convert it to text. All appeared normal and I converted it then from txt to epub. That when the ? replaced the quote marks. I went back then saved the html page as text. That's when the quote marks were replaced by ? in the text file. The file you saw was from the html saved as text. Paul

12-30-2010, 10:04 PM	#11
p3aul Captain Courageous Posts: 239 Karma: 102 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: calibre, PRS 505	Is that Western (Windows-1252) in FF under "View->Character Encoding" ? Thanks, Paul

01-01-2011, 01:23 AM	#13
p3aul Captain Courageous Posts: 239 Karma: 102 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: calibre, PRS 505	At last I used --input-encoding "Windows-1252" on the command line to force the encoding to 1252. that was the only thing that would work. Even though FF "said" the encoding was 1252, it wasn't. I will do this from now on when I have an HTML file. Thanks to all my helpers! Paul

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