Auto-add <br/> tag in every blank line

[MgHar]

Hi, after pasting a text in Calibre's editor, I would like to automatically add a <br/> tag to every blank line within a <p> tag

I do not wish to use the </pre> tag.

Thanks for your help!

[theducks]

We are not using Typewriters

What is the purpose ?
If you want line spacing, add a margin-top:1em; to the P class (or make a new one)

<p class="first"> This is a line with a blank line before</p>

p.first {display:block ; margin-top:1em;}

[MgHar]

Thanks for your reply theducks, I really appreciate you taking time to help with this. I tried adding a margin-top:1em; to the P class as suggested.

First let me explain what I'm trying to achieve (I realize that my initial post was not clear):

In Calibre's Editor :

1. I create a blank ePub book
2. Then I paste text within a <p></p> tag (the text might be 50 to 100 pages long, divided in hundreds of paragraphs)

The immediate result (visible in the preview pane of the editor) is that the text loses its paragraphs (which is normal with a p tag) BUT the text will dynamically auto-adjust the wrapping, regardless of the e-reader settings (that's an essential upside) (please see Capture 1 file attached).

Notice that when I pasted the text, empty lines appear between each paragraph (lines 14, 16 and 18)

The only way that I found to keep the "auto-wrap" WITHIN each paragraph AND achieve paragraph separation, is to add a double <br/> tag to each blank line.

In Capture 2 you'll see that I've added "<br/><br/>" to lines 14, 16 and 18. The result is visible in the preview pane. The paragraphs are now separated AND if I adjust the preview pane width, the wrapping will auto-adjust perfectly, and the paragraphs will remain separated. That's the result I'm looking for.

If my texts had only 10-20 paragraphs, I would add the <br/> tags manually. BUT with hundreds of paragraphs, the process juste becomes too much.

So there you have it, this is the purpose of my posting.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post I tried adding a margin-top:1em; to the P class as suggested. If you take a look at Capture 3, the text remains a big block with no paragraph separation.

My idea was to find a way to "auto-add" the "<br/><br/>" tags to every empty line. I'm a newbie to html, so perhaps there is a better way to achieve the same result.

Thanks for your help

[theducks]

Every one of those gaps could be </p> <p> instead.

Or you could style those further (assumes p has a 0 indent)
</p> <p class="indented">

the Stylesheet would have
.indented {text-indent: 1.5em;}

If this SOURCE was a complete TXT file, calibre can convert that to be closer to what you want initially.

KEEP a safe copy before you start.
Simply Select the Gap (from end of the line to the start of the next Paragraph)
ctrl-F
Use the above as the replace.
Step thru find, replace-find next to see if this is good (abort the edit if not)

[Brett Merkey]

Try this:

Paste your text raw into a .txt file. Import that into Calibre and convert to epub. Calibre adds classed P tags and that might work for you. If you want plain P tags, empty out the default style sheet and then use the "clean styles" tool.

[retiredbiker]

You might try a regex search & replace.

Search for \n\n
Replace with <br/><br/> (or a <p -something like theducks suggests)

Go one-at-a-time until you are sure it behaves with your long text...

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by MgHar

In Capture 2 you'll see that I've added "<br/><br/>" to lines 14, 16 and 18. The result is visible in the preview pane. The paragraphs are now separated AND if I adjust the preview pane width, the wrapping will auto-adjust perfectly, and the paragraphs will remain separated. That's the result I'm looking for.

Attachment 197978

Just in case the other explanations didn't help, here's mine: In Capture 2 replace the <br/><br/> with </p><p>. The </p> ends the <p> at the top and then the <p> starts a new paragraph, giving you the same visual effect, after you add the class and margin-top CSS as per the suggestion from theducks. You can do a search and replace for a blank line.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MgHar

Hi, after pasting a text in Calibre's editor, I would like to automatically add a <br/> tag to every blank line within a <p> tag

I do not wish to use the </pre> tag.

Thanks for your help!

Why do you want to use some pretty poor code? @theducks suggestion to use classes is what you really should be doing.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by MgHar

Then I paste text within a <p></p> tag (the text might be 50 to 100 pages long, divided in hundreds of paragraphs)

Are you trying to copy/paste an entire book?

This would be much better if you CONVERTED between formats instead.

- - -

For example, if you have a DOCX of your book:

It wouldn't be smart to:

• Copy your document + try to paste into Calibre...

Instead, you'd:

• Use Calibre to convert DOCX->EPUB.

This will carry over all your paragraphs.

Originally Posted by MgHar

If my texts had only 10-20 paragraphs, I would add the <br/> tags manually. BUT with hundreds of paragraphs, the process juste becomes too much.

If HTML+CSS seems a little too complicated for you, you may also want to:

Do this in a word processor. (Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, etc.)

You could:

• paste your text in there
• do some cleanup
  
  • Using Styles!!!
• then convert that document into EPUB via Calibre.

Watch these 2 amazing videos:

• Word 2013: Use Quick Styles
• How to REALLY use Microsoft Office: Word Styles 101

and within <30 minutes, you'll learn how to create very clean documents (which can then be turned into very clean ebooks!).

Originally Posted by MgHar

The immediate result (visible in the preview pane of the editor) is that the text loses its paragraphs (which is normal with a p tag) BUT the text will dynamically auto-adjust the wrapping, regardless of the e-reader settings (that's an essential upside) (please see Capture 1 file attached).

Like the others have explained... in HTML:

• <p> stands for paragraphs.

You do not hit "ENTER ENTER ENTER" to "create empty lines between paragraphs"...

You actually mark each paragraph as paragraphs!

BAD:

<p>This is paragraph 1.<br/>
<br/>
This is paragraph 2.<br/>
<br/>
This is paragraph 3.</p>

GOOD:

<p>This is paragraph 1.</p>

<p>This is paragraph 2.</p>

<p>This is paragraph 3.</p>

Originally Posted by MgHar

In Capture 2 you'll see that I've added "<br/><br/>" to lines 14, 16 and 18. The result is visible in the preview pane. The paragraphs are now separated AND if I adjust the preview pane width, the wrapping will auto-adjust perfectly, and the paragraphs will remain separated. That's the result I'm looking for.

I think you have to go completely back to the basics.

Do you know the basics of HTML? Do you know (at least a little) CSS?

With CSS, you can adjust the look of your entire book with a few lines.

Do you want your paragraphs to look like a typical book?

p {
	margin-top: 0;
	margin-bottom: 0;
	text-align: justify;
	text-indent: 2em;
}

Do you want your paragraphs to have a gap between them all?

p {
	margin-top: 1em;
	margin-bottom: 0;
	text-align: justify;
	text-indent: 0;
}

That's the power of marking your "paragraphs as paragraphs" + using CSS.

The 1st one says: "Hey! Give me an indent + don't put a margin on top!"

The 2nd one says: "Hey! Put a margin on top + don't give me an indent!"

[MgHar]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies!

I learned a lot in the last 48 hours just by experimenting with the solutions you guys provided.

My field of work is not coding as you surely figured out, but I'm a quick learner. With very minimal knowledge I already managed to create a few ePub bike trip itineraries with imbedded maps and text, providing me with an 8" screen strapped to my handlebar that uses almost no power and works in full sunlight (e-ink screens are just amazing).

Regarding my post and your replies, I will up my html/CSS game in a more structured manner (quick online course) and definitely watch the videos recommended by Tex2002an. Thanks to theducks and Brett Merkey for providing two avenues ("p class" and "text file import") that I tested over and over and allowed me to gain valuable practice and understanding of some fundamentals.

For now, and for my particular situation, here's what I ended up doing:

Right-

1. click on the ".txt" file that contains my text and select "open with Calibre"
2. In Calibre, convert the book to ePub
3. Open the book in Calibre's Editor
4. Adjust title and other metadata to my liking
5. Upload

to my Kobo Forma

I realize now that Calibre's conversion tool is a pretty powerful piece of software.

Everyone who replied in this thread contributed in helping me advance my understanding of HTML and of Calibre's more advanced functionalities.

Thank you all.

[Brett Merkey]

click on the ".txt" file that contains my text and select "open with Calibre"
In Calibre, convert the book to ePub
Open the book in Calibre's Editor

<<I realize now that Calibre's conversion tool is a pretty powerful piece of software.>>

Very true. I spent many unnecessary hours manipulating raw text with a text editor and regular expressions (not fun!) before learning that those 3 steps above would save a ton of aggravation.