convert <p> to <h1>

odamizu · 11-30-2017, 02:01 AM

Too often an epub uses <p> for chapter titles

Any suggestions on how to convert all those <p> to <h1> other than a manual edit? (I tried Tag Mechanic but couldn't figure out a way to do it that way.)

Or is there a way for those <p> to be recognized when generating a TOC?

Finally, (a bit off-topic of Sigil, sorry), any suggestions from Mac users for a good HTML editor for Mac? I currently use and love Taco, but the developer closed shop years ago, and with every OS update, I fear it will stop working. In fact, I'm still on El Capitan because I'm afraid I'll lose Taco if I update to Sierra or High Sierra.

Thanks!

doubleshuffle · 11-30-2017, 02:12 AM

If your heading has only the <p> tags, you're out of luck, I guess. But usually there are some style tags that are unique for headings in a particular book, so you can use those to build a regex that finds your headings.

DiapDealer · 11-30-2017, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

If your heading has only the <p> tags, you're out of luck, I guess. But usually there are some style tags that are unique for headings in a particular book, so you can use those to build a regex that finds your headings.

That's what I'd do, too. If actually changing the tags with regex proves tricky, non-header chapter titles are usually near the top of a page and often have a consistent pattern that can be used to match them (immediately follows the body tag, nested in a div following the body, etc). Find the pattern and give all of those chapter-title p tags (or most of them) a specific class and then safely change them to header tags with Tag Mechanic.

Turtle91 · 11-30-2017, 10:28 AM

^^^ What they said.

Here's an example:

Code:

search: <body>\s*<p>Chapter (.*?)</p>
replace: <body>\n<h1>Chapter \1</h1>\n

...although I wouldn't use <h1> for a chapter title. I'd use <h2> or even <h3>. Sigil will automagically indent your TOC based on the level of the header tag you use. For example:

Code:

<h1>Title Page</h1>
<h2>maps</h2>
<h2>epigraph</h2>
<h2>Part 1</h2>
<h3>Chapter 1</h3>
<h3>Chapter 2</h3>
<h3>Chapter 3</h3>
<h2>Part 2</h2>
<h3>Chapter 4</h3>
<h3>Chapter 5</h3>
<h3>Chapter 6</h3>

Would look like this (subject to your css styling if you also make an inline TOC)

Code:

Title Page
     maps
     epigraph
     Part 1
          Chapter 1
          Chapter 2
          Chapter 3
     Part 2
          Chapter 4
          Chapter 5
          Chapter 6

odamizu · 11-30-2017, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Code:

search: <body>\s*<p>Chapter (.*?)</p>
replace: <body>\n<h1>Chapter \1</h1>\n

Omigod, you guys are fabulous!

I'm trying to learn regex, but it's been slow going as regex tends to make my brain curl up into a fetal ball and start whimpering.

Finding the chapter headings hasn't been a problem. I search: <p class="chapterHead"> replace: <h1 class="chapterHead">

But then I would go in and manually change each closing </p> tag to an </h1> Urgh.

I've tried search: <p class="chapterHead">.*?</p> replace <h1 class="chapterHead">.*?</h1> but that had unhappy results.

Turtle91 for the proper regex to automate the entire process!

DiapDealer · 11-30-2017, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odamizu

Finding the chapter headings hasn't been a problem. I search: <p class="chapterHead"> replace: <h1 class="chapterHead">

But then I would go in and manually change each closing </p> tag to an </h1> Urgh.

If the chapter headings are that easy to find, then Tag Mechanic should have been able to do want you want fairly painlessly. Just change all p tags with a class attribute value of "chapterHead" to h1. That would have taken care of the opening and closing tags for you -- not that I would dream of discouraging anyone from picking up more regex experience.

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By default, the only thing the plugin will let you change a p tag to is a div tag. But you can change that in the plugin's customization config. Just right-click anywhere on the plugin's GUI dialog (the above image) and select "Customize Plugin" from the menu. Then add h1, h2, h3, etc.. (comma separated) to the list of tags available for p tag manipulation and click "Apply & Close."

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NOTE: make sure you have all the relevant xhtml files highlighted in Sigil's Book Browser before launching the plugin. The plugin only processes/searches/affects those files which are selected.

odamizu · 11-30-2017, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

... By default, the only thing the plugin will let you change a p tag to is a div tag. But you can change that in the plugin's customization config.

Omigod!

I loved Tag Mechanic before, but now I love it even more!

(And once my brain uncurls out of fetal position, I will continue my attempts to learn more regex

)

DiapDealer · 11-30-2017, 02:58 PM

Happy to help.

Doitsu · 11-30-2017, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odamizu

Any suggestions on how to convert all those <p> to <h1> other than a manual edit?

Some time ago I slapped together a quick & dirty plugin that'll automatically change paragraph tags to heading tags based on NCX TOC entries.

Obviously this only works with epub2 books that have a valid (=working) NCX TOC and it works best with NCX TOC entries that reference fragment ids (e.g. file.xhtml#id2). BTW, it does the following:

1. It parses the NCX and generates a list of TOC entries.
2. If the target href has a fragment id, it'll look for the target tag based on the fragment id and change the tag (or its parent tag) to a heading tag. (=Best-case scenario.)
3. If the target href doesn't have a fragment id, it'll look for the first tag with the same text as the TOC entry.
4. If the previous step failed, it'll insert a dummy heading tag with the TOC entry as the title attribute. This is the worst-case scenario, but at least it'll allow you to generate a TOC with Sigil.

Since I only tested this plugin with a couple of old valid Calibre-generated books with working NCX TOCs but no heading tags, I don't feel comfortable releasing it, but if you want to test this beta version, PM me for a Dropbox link.

slowsmile · 11-30-2017, 07:38 PM

@odamizu...By any chance are you using Scrivener to convert to epub? I only mention this because Scrivener always uses <p> tags for main headings whenever you convert to epub.

If you are converting to epub using Scrivener then you can use my NormalizeScrivEpub plugin. This plugin, by default, automatically converts all your main <p> tag headings to <h1> tag headings. Only takes a couple of seconds and you don't have to use regex.

odamizu · 11-30-2017, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Happy to help.

I should have known Tag Mechanic could do this

I've been happily using it to get rid of those pesky empty spans, then came across some <p> chapter heads I wanted to change to <h1>, but when I went to Tag Mechanic, the option wasn't there. How foolish of me not to research further — after all, the customization instructions are right there in your first post! (which I, of course, forgot about after downloading the plug-in to use with empty spans) Thanks again for the great plug-in and for all your work on Sigil!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Some time ago I slapped together a quick & dirty plugin that'll automatically change paragraph tags to heading tags based on NCX TOC entries.

Obviously this only works with epub2 books that have a valid (=working) NCX TOC and it works best with NCX TOC entries that reference fragment ids (e.g. file.xhtml#id2).

... if you want to test this beta version, PM me for a Dropbox link.

Tag Mechanic (with Turtle91's regex lesson as a backup) has solved my problem. But if you'd like me to test your plug-in, I'd be happy to. Will it also work with an epub3s that have an NCX TOC, or just epub2s?

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsmile

@odamizu...By any chance are you using Scrivener to convert to epub? ... If you are converting to epub using Scrivener then you can use my NormalizeScrivEpub plugin ...

Oy. I don't even know what Scrivener is! But thanks for the offer!

Doitsu · 12-01-2017, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odamizu

But if you'd like me to test your plug-in, I'd be happy to. Will it also work with an epub3s that have an NCX TOC, or just epub2s?

I haven't tested this, but if you select Tools > Epub3 Tools > Generate NCX from Nav it should work.

11-30-2017, 02:01 AM	#1
odamizu just an egg Posts: 1,586 Karma: 4300000 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: Kindle, iOS	convert <p> to <h1> Too often an epub uses <p> for chapter titles Any suggestions on how to convert all those <p> to <h1> other than a manual edit? (I tried Tag Mechanic but couldn't figure out a way to do it that way.) Or is there a way for those <p> to be recognized when generating a TOC? Finally, (a bit off-topic of Sigil, sorry), any suggestions from Mac users for a good HTML editor for Mac? I currently use and love Taco, but the developer closed shop years ago, and with every OS update, I fear it will stop working. In fact, I'm still on El Capitan because I'm afraid I'll lose Taco if I update to Sierra or High Sierra. Thanks!

11-30-2017, 02:12 AM	#2
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,923 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	If your heading has only the <p> tags, you're out of luck, I guess. But usually there are some style tags that are unique for headings in a particular book, so you can use those to build a regex that finds your headings. Last edited by doubleshuffle; 11-30-2017 at 03:16 AM.

11-30-2017, 10:28 AM	#4
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,095 Karma: 18727053 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	^^^ What they said. Here's an example: Code: search: <body>\s<p>Chapter (.?)</p> replace: <body>\n<h1>Chapter \1</h1>\n ...although I wouldn't use <h1> for a chapter title. I'd use <h2> or even <h3>. Sigil will automagically indent your TOC based on the level of the header tag you use. For example: Code: <h1>Title Page</h1> <h2>maps</h2> <h2>epigraph</h2> <h2>Part 1</h2> <h3>Chapter 1</h3> <h3>Chapter 2</h3> <h3>Chapter 3</h3> <h2>Part 2</h2> <h3>Chapter 4</h3> <h3>Chapter 5</h3> <h3>Chapter 6</h3> Would look like this (subject to your css styling if you also make an inline TOC) Code: Title Page maps epigraph Part 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Part 2 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Last edited by Turtle91; 11-30-2017 at 10:30 AM.

11-30-2017, 07:38 PM	#10
slowsmile Witchman Posts: 628 Karma: 788808 Join Date: May 2013 Location: Philippines Device: Android S5	@odamizu...By any chance are you using Scrivener to convert to epub? I only mention this because Scrivener always uses <p> tags for main headings whenever you convert to epub. If you are converting to epub using Scrivener then you can use my NormalizeScrivEpub plugin. This plugin, by default, automatically converts all your main <p> tag headings to <h1> tag headings. Only takes a couple of seconds and you don't have to use regex. Last edited by slowsmile; 11-30-2017 at 08:14 PM.

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11-30-2017, 02:58 PM	#8
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,550 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Happy to help.