Search for first author_sort entry starting with letter x

StillReading · 10-09-2015, 01:39 AM

I've been using searches like this for a while:

Code:

author_sort:"~(^[AaBbCcDd])|(&\s*[AaBbCcDd])"

This works perfectly fine, but on multi-author books it matches all authors that begin with the respective letters. Is there a way to search only for the the first "author_sort" entry? The only idea I can come up with is to create a custom field and use the "list_item" template function to fill it, but I'd prefer to use a search instead if possible.

eschwartz · 10-09-2015, 03:49 AM

????

Why not just prune the extra:

Code:

|(&\s*[AaBbCcDd]

at the end?

Also, the search is case-insensitive.
You could just use the set [A-D]

StillReading · 10-13-2015, 02:33 AM

Thanks for the info, eschwartz! Makes me feel pretty stupid - I should have seen that I was using a combination of two expressions in my searches. I copied the search string from some website and never bothered with trying to understand how the expression works - RegEx is still pretty alien to me (; .

eschwartz · 10-13-2015, 02:45 AM

Well, if you haven't had the opportunity to get a grounding in regex before, then you don't have to feel bad about not knowing it.

But since regex is pretty cool, and there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with it, I encourage you to take a look at the following tutorial -- it's the one that taught me everything I know: http://www.regular-expressions.info/

One of the most valuable things it does

is provide detailed step-by-step explanations about what the regex engine sees while it works.

10-09-2015, 01:39 AM	#1
StillReading Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2014 Device: none	Search for first author_sort entry starting with letter x I've been using searches like this for a while: Code: author_sort:"~(^[AaBbCcDd])\|(&\s*[AaBbCcDd])" This works perfectly fine, but on multi-author books it matches all authors that begin with the respective letters. Is there a way to search only for the the first "author_sort" entry? The only idea I can come up with is to create a custom field and use the "list_item" template function to fill it, but I'd prefer to use a search instead if possible.

10-09-2015, 03:49 AM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	???? Why not just prune the extra: Code: \|(&\s*[AaBbCcDd] at the end? Also, the search is case-insensitive. You could just use the set [A-D]

10-13-2015, 02:45 AM	#4
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Well, if you haven't had the opportunity to get a grounding in regex before, then you don't have to feel bad about not knowing it. But since regex is pretty cool, and there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with it, I encourage you to take a look at the following tutorial -- it's the one that taught me everything I know: http://www.regular-expressions.info/ One of the most valuable things it does is provide detailed step-by-step explanations about what the regex engine sees while it works. Last edited by eschwartz; 10-13-2015 at 02:48 AM.

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10-13-2015, 02:33 AM	#3
StillReading Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2014 Device: none	Thanks for the info, eschwartz! Makes me feel pretty stupid - I should have seen that I was using a combination of two expressions in my searches. I copied the search string from some website and never bothered with trying to understand how the expression works - RegEx is still pretty alien to me (; .

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