Slashes converted to underscores when column used in save path

[ownedbycats]

I had a #kobopath composite used to categorize my books at the top level. The full save path is:

{#kobopath}/{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{title} - {authors}

Here's the template I was using for the column itself:

program:

# Returns 'Fanfiction/Fandom' (based on tags) for fanfics 
	if $$#fanficcat then
		re(sublist($tags, 0, 1, ','), '\.', '/')

# Returns 'PDF' for PDFs
	elif $formats == 'PDF' then
		'PDF'

# Returns 'Loans' for Loans
	elif $#kobostatus == 'On Loan' then
		'Loans'

# Returns blank for paperbooks
# This bit isn't needed anymore
#	elif $formats == 'PAPERBOOK' then
#		''

# Returns topmost tag for all other books
	else
		re(sublist($tags, 0, 1, ','), '^(.*?)($|\..*$)', '\1')

	fi

For fanfics, I used Fanfiction/Fandom entries to sort them into subfolders. This worked perfectly fine when it was a composite column.

However, I copied it all over to a text column (originally #kobopath2, but I dropped the 2 after deleting the composite) because it was impacting performance too much and I only needed it for books I want on the device.

It has the same Fanfiction/Fandom as before, but now Calibre turns the slashes into underscores and breaks the subfoldering:



I tried inverting the slash, but that didn't work - even if it did, it would cause my template (I use it to generate the column output with my send-to-device Action Chain) to error.

Any idea what I should do? I figure it's deliberate as it's technically an illegal character, but I'm not sure why it only affect non-composite columns.

My fallback plan would be to just entirely drop the second part. I'd rather not do this. Sending all those fanfics to device again would be a hassle.

[chaley]

For various historical reasons all non-composite fields are cleaned when used in a save path. That won't change.

You can work around this by applying a function to the component when you use it in a template. The function is applied after the component is cleaned. Example:

{#kobopath:re(_,/)}/{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{title} - {authors}

which will convert all underscores in #kobopath to slashes. If you don't want *all* underscores converted then use some unique string to mean slash, for example ZZZ, then use the template

{#kobopath:re(ZZZ,/)}/{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{title} - {authors}

[ownedbycats]

I will try that out. What other characters get cleaned? That way if I ever tweak things I'll know to avoid those.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I will try that out. What other characters get cleaned? That way if I ever tweak things I'll know to avoid those.

In terms of cleaning differences between composites and text: front and back slashes.

I haven't looked at what is done to the final path string. Underscore and minus should be safe, but I would stay away from other punctuation and non-latin characters.

[ownedbycats]

Using re(_,/) worked perfectly. Thank you