Custom column to show a truncated file path

[TreeFrogBandit]

I'm experimenting with custom columns, and I'd like to add one with the file path in it. The problem is that the formats_paths function gives me a list which is far too long.

First I get the formats information (which I don't need) and then I get the full path of each version of the file - when actually what I'm looking for is the element of the path that is unique to each book (i.e. the file path for a the folder the files are in, without the preceding information about where the library is)

For example, at the moment I would get something like:

"EPUB: C:\calibre library location which is a very long string\then the specific library that calibre is looking at\and finally the interesting bit\title.epub,ORIGINAL_EPUB: C:\calibre library location which is a very long string\then the specific library that calibre is looking at\and finally the interesting bit\title.original_epub" etc. etc

What I'd like to do is get something like:

"...\and finally the interesting bit\"

Sorry if this is difficult to follow, can anybody help me? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's wanted to do this...

Thanks!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by TreeFrogBandit

I'm experimenting with custom columns, and I'd like to add one with the file path in it. The problem is that the formats_paths function gives me a list which is far too long.

First I get the formats information (which I don't need) and then I get the full path of each version of the file - when actually what I'm looking for is the element of the path that is unique to each book (i.e. the file path for a the folder the files are in, without the preceding information about where the library is)

For example, at the moment I would get something like:

"EPUB: C:\calibre library location which is a very long string\then the specific library that calibre is looking at\and finally the interesting bit\title.epub,ORIGINAL_EPUB: C:\calibre library location which is a very long string\then the specific library that calibre is looking at\and finally the interesting bit\title.original_epub" etc. etc

What I'd like to do is get something like:

"...\and finally the interesting bit\"

Sorry if this is difficult to follow, can anybody help me? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's wanted to do this...

Use a regular expression via the re function to parse the string you get from format_paths.

The "...\and finally the interesting bit\" would seem to be the directory name that is derived (ascii-ized and sanitized) from the first author name. I'm curious, no puzzled, why anyone would want such a thing - if they're interested they can just press O' and look at the top of the File Explorer window.

BR

[davidfor]

Firstly, the formats_paths function returns exactly what it is supposed to. It returns a list of the full paths for each format for the book with the format as a prefix. When using the Template editor, you can see the definition of each function by selecting the function lower half of the editor.

As to your template, I think you are after the name of the directory that holds the book. The following will do this:

{:'re(formats_paths(),".*\\([^\\]*?)\\[^\\]*?$","\1")'}

The only problem with this is if there are no formats for the book.

If you need to do this on a non-Windows box, the path separator will need to be changed.