How to copy only first N character from filename ?

[Giuseppe Chillem]

Hi,
is there a RegEx way to copy only the first N characters from Title to the ISBN field ?

Thanks in advance

[chaley]

Using bulk edit search & replace:

Search field: title
Search for: ^(.{5}).*
Replace with: \1
Destination field: identifiers
Identifier type: isbn

Replace the "5" in Search for with the number you really want.

[Giuseppe Chillem]

Originally Posted by chaley

Using bulk edit search & replace:

Search field: title
Search for: ^(.{5}).*
Replace with: \1
Destination field: identifiers
Identifier type: isbn

Replace the "5" in Search for with the number you really want.

Chaley, Those Regular Expression do not want to enter into my mind. I suppose I will ask about them forever...

Thanks !

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Giuseppe Chillem

Chaley, Those Regular Expression does not want to enter my mind. I suppose I will ask about them forever...

Thanks !

It took me a LONG time to get it.

Decoding:

^ must be at the beginning of the line
( start the [first] capture sequence
the dot any character
{x}   Repetition rule   5 exactly 5 times,  2,5 would be 2 to 5 times,
) end of [first] capture 

the replace:
\1 use the [first capture value]

IMHO dot is not a great match choice (for ISBN) as it assumes that the input is always a valid ISBN< to write a rule you need to know your data rules, and EXCEPTIONS >

ISBN 10 can have an 'X' as the last ^(\d{9}(\d|X|x)) not tested
this supposed to say Match the first 9 digits from the start AND match the next if it is a digit OR x (either case)

[Giuseppe Chillem]

Originally Posted by theducks

It took me a LONG time to get it.

Decoding:

^ must be at the beginning of the line
( start the [first] capture sequence
the dot any character
{x}   Repetition rule   5 exactly 5 times,  2,5 would be 2 to 5 times,
) end of [first] capture 

the replace:
\1 use the [first capture value]

IMHO dot is not a great match choice (for ISBN) as it assumes that the input is always a valid ISBN< to write a rule you need to know your data rules, and EXCEPTIONS >

ISBN 10 can have an 'X' as the last ^(\d{9}(\d|X|x)) not tested
this supposed to say Match the first 9 digits from the start AND match the next if it is a digit OR x (either case)

Tested, it takes the remaining part of the string:

1616084855IWIWEF -> IWIWEF

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Giuseppe Chillem

Tested, it takes the remaining part of the string:

1616084855IWIWEF -> IWIWEF

Did you forget the ^ at the beginning?

BTW I just did a test in Sigil:
Find found the ISBN

Then I changed the lat 5 to an x
It found that kind also. Slash 1 contained the ISBN Captured

[Adoby]

I suspect that the /1 was not used in the replace dialog.

In the Replace With box /1 must be specified, otherwise you have specified that you want to replace the matched isbn with nothing, in effect deleting it. And you end up with:

1616084855IWIWEF -> IWIWEF

The /1 specifies that you want to use the contents of the first matching parentheses. The matched isbn.