Marking/Deleting a File Name Pattern?

pete6055 · 09-19-2022, 03:52 PM

A quick question: is there a way to bulk mark or deleting a File Name Pattern in Sigil? For example, You have recurring instances of p*_000.html and p*_001.html and want to delete/mark only the former.

I know how to do this outside of Sigil, but have missed how to do this within the Software. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

KevinH · 09-19-2022, 05:05 PM

Not really. There may be a plugin to do that that I am unaware of. You can of course select contiguous sets of files and delete them as a group. So possibly using drag and drop to reorder them into larger contiguous blocks. Or perhaps use the Regular Expression Renamer tool alongside Sort HTML to allow easy block selection.

pete6055 · 09-20-2022, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

Not really. There may be a plugin to do that that I am unaware of. You can of course select contiguous sets of files and delete them as a group. So possibly using drag and drop to reorder them into larger contiguous blocks. Or perhaps use the Regular Expression Renamer tool alongside Sort HTML to allow easy block selection.

Thanks Kevin. I been doing these deletions in Winzip -- searching for the file pattern p*_000.html then deleting the results and resaving the epub. Works, but a more elegant solution would be much appreciated within Sigil. No hurry, though.

DiapDealer · 09-20-2022, 03:27 PM

I just can't imagine bulk file deletion within an EPUB being a very common task.

Can you explain the workflow that would make this kind of feature popular enough to work on adding it to Sigil?

PeterT · 09-20-2022, 03:37 PM

Wouldn't it be far easier just to unzip the Epub, drop the files (probably from the command line for simplicity) and then rezip the files (ignoring for now the requirement to have the mimetype [I think that's the file] uncompressed and as the first file) then use sigil to open and save the file to get the internal zip format perfect.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Turtle91 · 09-20-2022, 03:45 PM

You would also need to update the spine/manifest in the opf if you chose to remove them manually via unzipping...

Tex2002ans · 09-20-2022, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I just can't imagine bulk file deletion within an EPUB being a very common task.

Can you explain the workflow that would make this kind of feature popular enough to work on adding it to Sigil?

Yep, exactly what I'm thinking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete6055

Thanks Kevin. I been doing these deletions in Winzip -- searching for the file pattern p*_000.html then deleting the results and resaving the epub.

This is going to break your EPUB.

There are files like the content.opf that need to be updated whenever files get added/deleted too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete6055

Works, but a more elegant solution would be much appreciated within Sigil. No hurry, though.

Check out KevinH's "FolderIn" and "FolderOut" Plugins.

You can export, do whatever adjustments needed, then import the folder back.

pete6055 · 09-23-2022, 10:49 AM

Thanks all for the many suggestions. I will look at the "FolderIn" and "FolderOut" Plugins, as they may be exactly what I'm looking for.

As many of you noted bulk deletion is not a common problem to address but it does come up once in a while. For example, when Chapter styling is split between multiple html files, say with a leading graphic in the first file and the rest of the header and body in the other. Of course you can merge instead, but I normally prefer not to keep the leading graphic (normally a line) at all because I prefer 50 html files to 100.

KevinH · 09-23-2022, 12:29 PM

Actually, they will not help with updating the opf. It is treated just like any file by FolderIn and FolderOut.

The easiest workaround is to use Sigil's RegexRenamer functionality to rename the files to be deleted so that once sorted they will appear as a contiguous block in BookBrowser where they can easily be block selected and deleted.

I will think about adding a menu item to Select Files by regex to a future version, although a plugin could handle this easily as well.

09-19-2022, 03:52 PM	#1
pete6055 Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2012 Device: none	Marking/Deleting a File Name Pattern? A quick question: is there a way to bulk mark or deleting a File Name Pattern in Sigil? For example, You have recurring instances of p_000.html and p_001.html and want to delete/mark only the former. I know how to do this outside of Sigil, but have missed how to do this within the Software. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

09-19-2022, 05:05 PM	#2
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,765 Karma: 6000000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Not really. There may be a plugin to do that that I am unaware of. You can of course select contiguous sets of files and delete them as a group. So possibly using drag and drop to reorder them into larger contiguous blocks. Or perhaps use the Regular Expression Renamer tool alongside Sort HTML to allow easy block selection. Last edited by KevinH; 09-19-2022 at 05:11 PM.

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09-20-2022, 03:27 PM	#4
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,574 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I just can't imagine bulk file deletion within an EPUB being a very common task. Can you explain the workflow that would make this kind of feature popular enough to work on adding it to Sigil?

09-20-2022, 03:37 PM	#5
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,528 Karma: 78910202 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Wouldn't it be far easier just to unzip the Epub, drop the files (probably from the command line for simplicity) and then rezip the files (ignoring for now the requirement to have the mimetype [I think that's the file] uncompressed and as the first file) then use sigil to open and save the file to get the internal zip format perfect. Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

09-20-2022, 03:45 PM	#6
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,354 Karma: 20171571 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	You would also need to update the spine/manifest in the opf if you chose to remove them manually via unzipping...

09-23-2022, 10:49 AM	#8
pete6055 Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2012 Device: none	Thanks all for the many suggestions. I will look at the "FolderIn" and "FolderOut" Plugins, as they may be exactly what I'm looking for. As many of you noted bulk deletion is not a common problem to address but it does come up once in a while. For example, when Chapter styling is split between multiple html files, say with a leading graphic in the first file and the rest of the header and body in the other. Of course you can merge instead, but I normally prefer not to keep the leading graphic (normally a line) at all because I prefer 50 html files to 100.

09-23-2022, 12:29 PM	#9
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,765 Karma: 6000000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Actually, they will not help with updating the opf. It is treated just like any file by FolderIn and FolderOut. The easiest workaround is to use Sigil's RegexRenamer functionality to rename the files to be deleted so that once sorted they will appear as a contiguous block in BookBrowser where they can easily be block selected and deleted. I will think about adding a menu item to Select Files by regex to a future version, although a plugin could handle this easily as well.

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