Regex help please

bremler · 04-22-2014, 05:41 AM

Hello I would appreciate some help with regex.

I'm editing a badly OCR scanned novel which often has vital punctuation missing before talking marks. Here's an example:

‘Come on darling,’ she said. ‘We’re here now.’

is missing the comma after darling.

‘Come on darling’ she said. ‘We’re here now.’

Is there a way, using regex, I could go through the entire book and do a search for any dialogue that is missing . , ; or - before the quotation marks?

Many thanks!

Toxaris · 04-22-2014, 06:18 AM

Of course. You can search for: ([a-z])’

However, there might be much more punctuation missing here.

bremler · 04-22-2014, 07:30 AM

Hey, thanks. Hm. This is problematic, as I get too many results. It picks up words like couldn’t, should’ve, etc. I might have to bite the bullet and do this manually.

Toxaris · 04-22-2014, 07:37 AM

Enter a space at the end of the search term..

bremler · 04-22-2014, 07:39 AM

Ooh this is good. Great thanks !

qsipl · 04-22-2014, 07:40 AM

You can try this

[a-z])’# (# means space)

bremler · 04-22-2014, 07:42 AM

[a-z])’# doesn't seem to work in Sigil, but the space one does. Thanks anyway

Jellby · 04-22-2014, 08:11 AM

Does \W work? \w is supposed to mean "any character allowed in a word (letter or underscore)", and \W is the opposite.

bremler · 04-24-2014, 11:37 AM

Jellby, what's the full syntax to enter? I'll try it out

Jellby · 04-24-2014, 01:05 PM

Hmm... maybe this:

\w’\W

theducks · 04-24-2014, 10:46 PM

Code:

(\w)\s

since there is always a space
replace: \1,[aspace] <just a space

04-22-2014, 05:41 AM	#1
bremler Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Sony PRS-T1	Regex help please Hello I would appreciate some help with regex. I'm editing a badly OCR scanned novel which often has vital punctuation missing before talking marks. Here's an example: ‘Come on darling,’ she said. ‘We’re here now.’ is missing the comma after darling. ‘Come on darling’ she said. ‘We’re here now.’ Is there a way, using regex, I could go through the entire book and do a search for any dialogue that is missing . , ; or - before the quotation marks? Many thanks!

04-22-2014, 07:40 AM	#6
qsipl Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 412584 Join Date: Feb 2014 Device: IPAD, KF8 & Tablet	Regex help please You can try this [a-z])’# (# means space)

04-24-2014, 10:46 PM	#11
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,270 Karma: 61916422 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Code: (\w)\s since there is always a space replace: \1,[aspace] <just a space

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04-22-2014, 06:18 AM	#2
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Of course. You can search for: ([a-z])’ However, there might be much more punctuation missing here.

04-22-2014, 07:30 AM	#3
bremler Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Sony PRS-T1	Hey, thanks. Hm. This is problematic, as I get too many results. It picks up words like couldn’t, should’ve, etc. I might have to bite the bullet and do this manually.

04-22-2014, 07:37 AM	#4
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Enter a space at the end of the search term..

04-22-2014, 07:39 AM	#5
bremler Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Sony PRS-T1	Ooh this is good. Great thanks !

04-22-2014, 07:42 AM	#7
bremler Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Sony PRS-T1	[a-z])’# doesn't seem to work in Sigil, but the space one does. Thanks anyway

04-22-2014, 08:11 AM	#8
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,571 Karma: 20150435 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Does \W work? \w is supposed to mean "any character allowed in a word (letter or underscore)", and \W is the opposite.

04-24-2014, 11:37 AM	#9
bremler Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Sony PRS-T1	Jellby, what's the full syntax to enter? I'll try it out

04-24-2014, 01:05 PM	#10
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,571 Karma: 20150435 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Hmm... maybe this: \w’\W