Editing Metadata in Bulk Question

lwpack · 03-25-2009, 01:14 PM

Hi. I have a large collection of ebooks where "Blackmask Lives" is appended to the author. For example, the author of the book The Door Through Space is Marion Zimmer Bradley, but it shows up as Blackmask Lives & Marion Zimmer Bradley. I have about 800 ebooks like this. Is there a way to delete the Blackmask Lives part on the author field without having to do it for each book individually?

Alternatively, if this is not possible, could someone point me in the right direction as to where to look up how to write a program that can do this (I have limited programming experience).

Thanks.

kovidgoyal · 03-25-2009, 01:21 PM

calibre has a command line interface to the database (calibredb) you should be able to write a script using it to do what you want

wygit · 07-19-2009, 11:34 AM

Where do we find the command line files?

OSX, calibre 6b14
looking at the command line docs, it lists epub-meta which sounds like it could do what I want (bulk editing of tags) but I can't find a file epub-meta on my drive.

is there a primer for the command line interface?
or a good query in search for the forum?
(I'm getting too much chaff in my searches)

In the docs, when I go to Start>Sections>editing ebook metadata, it's empty.

kovidgoyal · 07-19-2009, 12:07 PM

The calibre user manual has a list of all the command line commands

wygit · 07-19-2009, 04:55 PM

right, buyt my question was:

Quote:

looking at the command line docs, it lists epub-meta which sounds like it could do what I want (bulk editing of tags) but I can't find a file epub-meta on my drive.

is there a primer for the command line interface?
or a good query in search for the forum?
(I'm getting too much chaff in my searches)

In the docs, when I go to Start>Sections>editing ebook metadata, it's empty. .

I'm really trying not to bug the forum, but the docs aren't helping me here...
I'm just looking for help in how to research this myself.
If I just try the command, I get:
-bash: epub-meta: command not found

wygit · 07-19-2009, 05:01 PM

or for a related question, for clearing the tags completely from a batch of books, is there a wildcard?
I tried removing *, but that didn't work

kovidgoyal · 07-19-2009, 05:43 PM

The command line utilities are in /usr/bin on OS X

ilovejedd · 07-19-2009, 06:43 PM

Have you done much tweaking of metadata? Is the file naming the same in all the books (e.g. Blackmask Lives, author name - title)?

If you still have the original files on your hard drive and you haven't done much in the way of fixing metadata, perhaps you could just re-import your collection and edit the regular expression used by Calibre for metadata detection to account for the extraneous data.

For example change:

Code:

(?P<author>.+) - (?P<title>.+)

to:

Code:

Blackmask Lives, (?P<author>.+) - (?P<title>.+)

wygit · 07-19-2009, 07:08 PM

a-HA... I'm NOT insane after all...

/usr/bin/epub-meta -> /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/Resources/loaders/epub-meta

cd /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/Resources/loaders/
ls -l
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1520 Jul 16 17:41 calibre
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1525 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-complete
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1523 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-customize
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1516 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-debug
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1527 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-parallel
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1525 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-server
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1521 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-smtp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1522 Jul 16 17:41 calibredb
-rwx------ 1 wygit admin 429 Jul 19 08:18 calibredb.py
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1532 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-convert
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1534 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-device
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1530 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-meta
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1527 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-viewer
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1532 Jul 16 17:41 fetch-ebook-metadata
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1540 Jul 16 17:41 librarything
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1531 Jul 16 17:41 lrf2lrs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1533 Jul 16 17:41 lrfviewer
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1538 Jul 16 17:41 lrs2lrf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1535 Jul 16 17:41 markdown-calibre
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1536 Jul 16 17:41 pdfmanipulate
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1527 Jul 16 17:41 web2disk

I seen to be missing a few files...

Suggestions?

kovidgoyal · 07-19-2009, 07:11 PM

If you're using calibre 0.6 the command is ebook-meta not epub-meta

wygit · 07-19-2009, 11:40 PM

thanks...
I had finally figured that one out...
It was confusing when I was trying commands from the docs and they were returning "not found".
I figured I had to be doing something wrong.

03-25-2009, 01:14 PM	#1
lwpack Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle	Editing Metadata in Bulk Question Hi. I have a large collection of ebooks where "Blackmask Lives" is appended to the author. For example, the author of the book The Door Through Space is Marion Zimmer Bradley, but it shows up as Blackmask Lives & Marion Zimmer Bradley. I have about 800 ebooks like this. Is there a way to delete the Blackmask Lives part on the author field without having to do it for each book individually? Alternatively, if this is not possible, could someone point me in the right direction as to where to look up how to write a program that can do this (I have limited programming experience). Thanks.

07-19-2009, 06:43 PM	#8
ilovejedd hopeless n00b Posts: 5,111 Karma: 19597086 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: in the middle of nowhere Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9	Have you done much tweaking of metadata? Is the file naming the same in all the books (e.g. Blackmask Lives, author name - title)? If you still have the original files on your hard drive and you haven't done much in the way of fixing metadata, perhaps you could just re-import your collection and edit the regular expression used by Calibre for metadata detection to account for the extraneous data. For example change: Code: (?P<author>.+) - (?P<title>.+) to: Code: Blackmask Lives, (?P<author>.+) - (?P<title>.+)

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03-25-2009, 01:21 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,851 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre has a command line interface to the database (calibredb) you should be able to write a script using it to do what you want

07-19-2009, 11:34 AM	#3
wygit Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 112 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	Where do we find the command line files? OSX, calibre 6b14 looking at the command line docs, it lists epub-meta which sounds like it could do what I want (bulk editing of tags) but I can't find a file epub-meta on my drive. is there a primer for the command line interface? or a good query in search for the forum? (I'm getting too much chaff in my searches) In the docs, when I go to Start>Sections>editing ebook metadata, it's empty.

07-19-2009, 12:07 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,851 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The calibre user manual has a list of all the command line commands

07-19-2009, 05:01 PM	#6
wygit Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 112 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	or for a related question, for clearing the tags completely from a batch of books, is there a wildcard? I tried removing *, but that didn't work

07-19-2009, 05:43 PM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,851 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The command line utilities are in /usr/bin on OS X

07-19-2009, 07:08 PM	#9
wygit Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 112 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	a-HA... I'm NOT insane after all... /usr/bin/epub-meta -> /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/Resources/loaders/epub-meta cd /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/Resources/loaders/ ls -l -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1520 Jul 16 17:41 calibre -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1525 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-complete -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1523 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-customize -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1516 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-debug -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1527 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-parallel -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1525 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-server -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1521 Jul 16 17:41 calibre-smtp -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1522 Jul 16 17:41 calibredb -rwx------ 1 wygit admin 429 Jul 19 08:18 calibredb.py -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1532 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-convert -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1534 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-device -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1530 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-meta -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1527 Jul 16 17:41 ebook-viewer -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1532 Jul 16 17:41 fetch-ebook-metadata -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1540 Jul 16 17:41 librarything -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1531 Jul 16 17:41 lrf2lrs -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1533 Jul 16 17:41 lrfviewer -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1538 Jul 16 17:41 lrs2lrf -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1535 Jul 16 17:41 markdown-calibre -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1536 Jul 16 17:41 pdfmanipulate -rwxr-xr-x 1 wygit admin 1527 Jul 16 17:41 web2disk I seen to be missing a few files... Suggestions?

07-19-2009, 07:11 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,851 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	If you're using calibre 0.6 the command is ebook-meta not epub-meta

07-19-2009, 11:40 PM	#11
wygit Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 112 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	thanks... I had finally figured that one out... It was confusing when I was trying commands from the docs and they were returning "not found". I figured I had to be doing something wrong.

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