Possible bug report - Edit metadata in bulk, search and replace series

kacir · 12-20-2025, 05:58 PM

I have two books.
One with series name "Random text"
The other with series name "Something else"

I select those books, press E for Edit metadata in bulk.

Go to the Search and replace tab
Search field: Series
Search for: .*
Replace With: Word

I would expect that it replaces the series with "Word", but it replaces the series with "WordWord". The dot in regular expression represents any character and star is a greedy quantifier - it should match the entire string.

When I want to replace the entire string with the "Word" I have to use "Search for" regular expression
^.*
with caret anchoring the RE to the beginning of the string
Then it works the way I would expect.

I tried to use this edit to replace several versions of the series name with a unified name while preserving series numbering and was surprised by this behavior. Am I doing something wrong? Am I overlooking something obvious? I can live with this behavior, but it might indicate that there is something wonky in the way it parses Regular Expressions.

I am using Calibre 8.16.1 on Mint Linux 21.3 x86_64

kovidgoyal · 12-21-2025, 04:02 AM

That's how the regex module in python works. .* will matchthe full string and then the empty string at the end of the full string when not anchored. Either anchor it with ^ or use .+

kacir · 12-21-2025, 06:36 AM

Thank you for an explanation and the quick reply. And for Calibre, of course.

12-20-2025, 05:58 PM	#1
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,471 Karma: 10684861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	Possible bug report - Edit metadata in bulk, search and replace series I have two books. One with series name "Random text" The other with series name "Something else" I select those books, press E for Edit metadata in bulk. Go to the Search and replace tab Search field: Series Search for: .* Replace With: Word I would expect that it replaces the series with "Word", but it replaces the series with "WordWord". The dot in regular expression represents any character and star is a greedy quantifier - it should match the entire string. When I want to replace the entire string with the "Word" I have to use "Search for" regular expression ^.* with caret anchoring the RE to the beginning of the string Then it works the way I would expect. I tried to use this edit to replace several versions of the series name with a unified name while preserving series numbering and was surprised by this behavior. Am I doing something wrong? Am I overlooking something obvious? I can live with this behavior, but it might indicate that there is something wonky in the way it parses Regular Expressions. I am using Calibre 8.16.1 on Mint Linux 21.3 x86_64

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12-21-2025, 04:02 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,839 Karma: 28586150 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	That's how the regex module in python works. .* will matchthe full string and then the empty string at the end of the full string when not anchored. Either anchor it with ^ or use .+

12-21-2025, 06:36 AM	#3
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,471 Karma: 10684861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	Thank you for an explanation and the quick reply. And for Calibre, of course.