Is there a way to use the selection in a Saved Search?

[phossler]

Originally Posted by theducks

Maybe you could have your search use the 'OR' type regex (aword|bword|cword|dword)

I could do that, but it more of an efficiency / productivity question

I won't know apriori the word or words or phrases to build the OR RegEx Find.

Proofing or fixing a book, when I come across a word or phrase (typically foreign) that I want in italics (or bold or <span>-ed or whatever) everywhere in the book, I could select the text, and then run a stored search "Make Selection Italic" IF there were a way to have Find somehow use what ever is selected

MS Word's Find&Replace lets you use ^c for the clipboard contents, and there's so much in Calibre, I didn't know there was something similar, or if it could be easily added

[theducks]

Originally Posted by phossler

I could do that, but it more of an efficiency / productivity question

I won't know apriori the word or words or phrases to build the OR RegEx Find.

Proofing or fixing a book, when I come across a word or phrase (typically foreign) that I want in italics (or bold or <span>-ed or whatever) everywhere in the book, I could select the text, and then run a stored search "Make Selection Italic" IF there were a way to have Find somehow use what ever is selected

MS Word's Find&Replace lets you use ^c for the clipboard contents, and there's so much in Calibre, I didn't know there was something similar, or if it could be easily added

Clips use what is selected
I have a clip

<span lang="es">\1</span>

The common ones, have show on the clip bar. The lesser use ones are in nested clip folders
I just select and click the LANG= clip on my toolbar

[phossler]

'Clips' or 'Snippets'?

I couldn't find 'Clips' and there doesn't seem to be 'Clips Toolbar'

You might be thinking of Sigil ???

Even so, they're more of an ad hoc thing IIRC, not a global F&R

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by phossler

'Clips' or 'Snippets'?

I couldn't find 'Clips' and there doesn't seem to be 'Clips Toolbar'

You might be thinking of Sigil ???

Even so, they're more of an ad hoc thing IIRC, not a global F&R

They're in Preferences->Editor Settings, see Snippets for doco.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by phossler

'Clips' or 'Snippets'?

I couldn't find 'Clips' and there doesn't seem to be 'Clips Toolbar'

You might be thinking of Sigil ???

Even so, they're more of an ad hoc thing IIRC, not a global F&R

[phossler]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

They're in Preferences->Editor Settings, see Snippets for doco.

BR

Thanks, I've used snippets a little but they're still one at a time

jbacelar's suggestion seems to offer a way to do a global F&R

It just requires some careful manual copy/pasting, and not as IMHO user friendly as having a token representing the selected text

[kovidgoyal]

Simply edit your saved search, replacing the matched word in the search definition, then run it on all files. Done in about 5 clicks.

[phossler]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Simply edit your saved search, replacing the matched word in the search definition, then run it on all files. Done in about 5 clicks.

That seems to be the consensus. Jbacelar said the same thing.

It's just that the book I'm trying to cleanup has many foreign words used many times each so I was looking for the most efficient to add <i> tags around each instance of each word

If there were a token (e.g. _SELECTION_) that could be used in the saved search, then it'd only be one click: Select word/phrase, click Saved Search

[kovidgoyal]

opena text file go through th ebook selecting the words one by one and copying them into the text file, separated by | then use that expression ina single search and replace.

[phossler]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

opena text file go through th ebook selecting the words one by one and copying them into the text file, separated by | then use that expression ina single search and replace.

I usually stumble across words/phrases going through the book one at a time, so I know I'd miss something many times and have to keep repeating

So for now, jbacelar's suggestion seems to offer the most flexible way to do a global F&R for <i>Things like this</i>

Thanks to everyone for the ideas and suggestions

[BetterRed]

@phossler - IIRC one of the Sigil cleanup plugins works off word lists, I'm not sure if the replacement can include tags - might be worth a look.

BR

[phossler]

@BetterRed --

Thanks for the tip. I used to use Sigil, but when Kovid released his editor module, I switched and standardized on Calibre.

I guess I'll bite the bullet and use jacelar's and KG's suggestion paste the word or phrase into the saved search Find box and do a replace all

It's still much easier than the way I was doing it with the Find/Replace at the bottom of the screen

I'll have a series of saved searches: one to put <i> around all instances of a foreign word or phrase, and others to put a <span lang= .… > around foreign text (might include italics there - hmmm, didn't think of that)

Not sure what the actual rules are for marking/tagging foreign text is, but that'll be a fun research project for another day


Added - actually, the document language is English, so spell check flags the foreign words. From the spell check error report, I can copy the word to the saved search and do a replace all. Removes it from spell check error since I don't like to Ignore or Add To Dictionary

Doesn't work for phrases tho

[BetterRed]

@phossler - I don't see them as either/or, so I use both - I find some things easier in Sigil than calibre and vice-versa. And Sigil has a some useful plugins.

IIRC the Sigil devs are planning to dispense with the rigid folder structure.

BR

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by phossler

Added - actually, the document language is English, so spell check flags the foreign words. From the spell check error report, I can copy the word to the saved search and do a replace all. Removes it from spell check error since I don't like to Ignore or Add To Dictionary

This is exactly how I would handle it.

Ever since Calibre added Multi-Language Spellcheck, you can easily mark the words with lang + xml:lang.

Example sentence:

I ate some español sofritos today.

1. Use Calibre's Tools > Check Spelling with Show only misspelled words checked.

Most foreign words should pop up as misspelled. "sofritos" would stick out like a sore thumb.

Use Change selected word to and replace it with something like "@sofritos@".

Note: The very last word in the list is the word itself, so just click on that and make your adjustments:



2. After the end of the first pass, do a mass Search/Replace:

Search: @(.+?)@
Replace: <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">\1</i>

I ate some español <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">sofritos</i> today.

3. Run Spellcheck List again, and repeat Step 1.

You'll easily be able to see which Spanish words you've caught so far, and narrow the list down further:



4. Now uncheck Show only misspelled words, and do a few more passes. That should get you most of the way there.

5. To attach most "phrases" (which are made up of just individual foreign words)... search for two Spanish italics next to each other:

Search: (<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">.+?)</i> <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">
Replace: \1

and it'll merge them:

I ate some <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">español sofritos</i> today.

That should carry you most of the way there.

Originally Posted by phossler

Not sure what the actual rules are for marking/tagging foreign text is, but that'll be a fun research project for another day

Just wondering, why exactly are you marking all foreign words in italics? Are you trying to enforce a Style Guide (CMOS?) or something along those lines?

[phossler]

1. Some very good ideas -- thanks

2.

a. Proofing APA, MLA, and ASA papers for family members using MS Word

b. I thought it was the convention since that was what I was used to seeing in dead tree books from my student days. I might have over-generalized, but I was going by something like this. APA is similar

c. There are no house rules or S&C in my house for most ebooks, since I mostly just try to re-format for my Kindle and for easier reading, so I just wanted to do it that way (aka No Good Reason )

Of course, for APA, etc. or other papers, I'd follow what ever the guidelines were.


https://style.mla.org/styling-foreign-terms/

Spoiler:

How should I treat foreign terms in MLA style?
Treat foreign terms according to the guidelines in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing:

In general, italicize foreign words used in an English text:
The Renaissance courtier was expected to display sprezzatura, or
nonchalance, in the face of adversity.

The numerous exceptions to this rule include quotations entirely in another language (“Julius Caesar said, ‘Veni, vidi, vici’”); non-English titles of works published within larger works (poems, stories, essays, articles), which are placed in quotation marks and not italicized (“El sueño,” the title of a poem by Quevedo); proper nouns (Entente Cordiale), except when italicized through another convention (SS Normandie); and foreign words anglicized through frequent use.


Examples of terms, phrases, and abbreviations that would not be italicized include “concerto,” “raison d’être,” and “e.g.” (100).