Empty space in Paragraph

odedta · 12-06-2014, 09:24 AM

Sometimes I see writers do this(after conversion to epub):

Code:

<p class="normal">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet             </p>

A lot of the paragraphs have those silly empty spaces at the end because the writer decided to add them instead of actually styling his/her text in MS Word.

Is there any script / regex to get rid of those?

JSWolf · 12-06-2014, 09:27 AM

All you need do is search for a space in front of the and replace with . And just keep doing that over and over until there is no more space in front of .

PeterT · 12-06-2014, 10:11 AM

Why not just search for multiple spaces , in other words [ ]* or even [ ]*</ to look for all occurences of spaces directly before the closing of any tag?

odedta · 12-06-2014, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

Why not just search for multiple spaces , in other words [ ]* or even [ ]*</ to look for all occurences of spaces directly before the closing of any tag?

Yeah, I didn't know how spaces are represented in regex, that's why I asked

@JSWolf, nice new profile pic :P

Thanks guys.

signum · 12-06-2014, 12:26 PM

The only gotcha is that if you use a space character inside square brackets, it has to be the last character.

theducks · 12-06-2014, 09:19 PM

Why not \s{1,}

odedta · 12-07-2014, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Why not \s{1,}

Okay, now, that requires some explanation

Doitsu · 12-07-2014, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Why not \s{1,}

Okay, now, that requires some explanation

Why? It's the same as:

Code:

\s+</p>

rubeus · 12-07-2014, 06:15 AM

None of those catches  

Code:

(\s+|(&nbsp;)*)</p>

odedta · 12-27-2014, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Why? It's the same as:

Code:

\s+</p>

This \s{1,} method worked well.
Could you explain the different parts of the that expression?

\s = search for a string
{1,} = placeholder for empty space

Is this correct? could you elaborate on what other searches you could possibly do using these operators/placeholders? e.g. what would {2,} mean? what would \n or \r mean?

Thanks

Doitsu · 12-27-2014, 07:21 AM

@odeta: For a short Regex summary, see this site. BTW, there are slightly different Regex flavors; Sigil uses PCRE (=Perl-compatible regular Expressions.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

This \s{1,} method worked well.
Could you explain the different parts of the that expression?

\s = any whitespace character
{1,} = number of preceding characters to be found (in this case at least one)
\n = line-break
\r = carriage-return

I used the + operator, because it's shorthand for {1,}.

dgatwood · 12-27-2014, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubeus

None of those catches  

Code:

(\s+|(&nbsp;)*)</p>

I think you meant

Code:

(\s|&nbsp;)*</p>

to catch any combination of whitespace or non-breaking space entities in any order.

12-06-2014, 09:24 AM	#1
odedta Addict Posts: 398 Karma: 96448 Join Date: Dec 2013 Device: iPad	Empty space in Paragraph Sometimes I see writers do this(after conversion to epub): Code: <p class="normal">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet </p> A lot of the paragraphs have those silly empty spaces at the end because the writer decided to add them instead of actually styling his/her text in MS Word. Is there any script / regex to get rid of those?

12-06-2014, 09:27 AM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 74,027 Karma: 129333114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	All you need do is search for a space in front of the </p> and replace with </p>. And just keep doing that over and over until there is no more space in front of </p>.

12-06-2014, 10:11 AM	#3
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,171 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Why not just search for multiple spaces </p>, in other words [ ]</p> or even [ ]</ to look for all occurences of spaces directly before the closing of any tag?

12-06-2014, 09:19 PM	#6
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,812 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Why not \s{1,}</p>

12-07-2014, 06:15 AM	#9
rubeus Banned Posts: 272 Karma: 1224588 Join Date: Sep 2014 Device: Sony PRS 650	None of those catches   Code: (\s+\|( ))</p> Last edited by rubeus; 12-07-2014 at 06:16 AM. Reason: mask smileys*

12-06-2014, 12:26 PM	#5
signum Zealot Posts: 119 Karma: 64428 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: none	The only gotcha is that if you use a space character inside square brackets, it has to be the last character.

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