Regex and span

JSWolf · 01-18-2013, 08:43 PM

Let's say we have the following in a line...

This is just plain text. This is supposed to be bold text. This is just text. This is supposed to be italics. This is just more text.

So how would I create regex that would select the just text inside the first or second span?

Perkin · 01-18-2013, 09:22 PM

My regex fu must be on the blink.
This regex search should work, but it's not working in Sigil, does work in EditPad though, so perhaps it's a problem with the regex engine?

Code:

(?<=<span\sclass="(bold|italics)">)(.+?)(?=</span>)

The group that stores the text will be \2 (not the usual \1 - which here will be the bold|italics class)

Is that any use?

EDIT: This works in Sigil (with your example).
Search for

Code:

(?<=">)(.+?)(?=</)

ElMiko · 01-19-2013, 02:06 PM

Like Perkins, i'm a little befuddled as to the technical reason why the first search fails (It's a problem i've wrestled with before). It's got something to do with a conflict between the "or" symbol and the parentheses. But as I say, the nitty gritty of the regex issue escapes me. In order to achieve the matching result intended by Perkins original search, you need to restate each span in its entirety:

Code:

(?<=span class="italics">|span class="bold">)(.*?)(?=</span)

@JSWolf—All that being said, your question is unclear. Are you looking for a search that will match either span or both spans? And if it's the latter, the above regex will do the trick. If it's the former, it will be too greedy, and you obviously have to limit the look-behind to the desired span class. Also, are you just looking to match "bold" and "italics" spans, or are you trying to match all spans? if the latter, then you may want to use:

Code:

<span[^>]*>(.*?)</span>

note that this search will (unlike the lookbehind searches) include the span code itself, as well as the text that it is modifying.

JSWolf · 01-19-2013, 07:44 PM

An example of what I'd like to do is to take the uppercase of fake smallcaps and convert it to lowercase. So in cases where they've multiple spans on the same line, being able to select each one is important.

Just some text. SOME SMALLCAP TEXT. Some more text. SOME MORE SMALLCAP TEXT.

Now I've seen stuff like this...

Just some text. SOME SMALLCAP TEXT.

Can this be done?

theducks · 01-19-2013, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

An example of what I'd like to do is to take the uppercase of fake smallcaps and convert it to lowercase. So in cases where they've multiple spans on the same line, being able to select each one is important.

Just some text. SOME SMALLCAP TEXT. Some more text. SOME MORE SMALLCAP TEXT.

Now I've seen stuff like this...

Just some text. SOME SMALLCAP TEXT.

Can this be done?

Sure. (Having an example of the expected output for the shown input would help avoid confusion

)

Code:

<span class="SmallCaps">(.+?)</span>

\L\1

Perkin · 01-20-2013, 07:01 AM

Expanding on theducks answer, to combine the Spans in second example, you could use

Code:

<span class="SmallCaps">(.+?)</span>([\sA-Z]*)<span class="SmallCaps">(.+?)</span>

and replace with

Code:

<span class="SmallCaps">\L\1\E\2\L\3</span>

BEWARE
The trouble using these sorts of regex is when they contain a name or word which has a uppercase letter inside, which would then get converted to lowercase.

JSWolf · 01-22-2013, 08:39 AM

Would any of these regex examples work if there was just one span, two spans, three spans, or even four spans. The problem is that with something like smallcaps, it's not a set amount of spans. So there's no way to know ahead of time how many spans exist in a given paragraph. Plus there could be other spans for other things in the same paragraph.

Perkin · 01-23-2013, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would any of these regex examples work if there was just one span, two spans, three spans, or even four spans.

theducks one (post #5) will only work on one span at a time, my 'combining' one (post #6) will work on two consecutive ones, you'll just need to repeat that one if there's more than the two consecutive spans.

01-18-2013, 08:43 PM	#1
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,938 Karma: 128903250 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Regex and span Let's say we have the following in a line... <p>This is just plain text. <span class="bold">This is supposed to be bold text.</span> This is just text. <span class="italics">This is supposed to be italics</span>. This is just more text.</p> So how would I create regex that would select the just text inside the first or second span?

01-18-2013, 09:22 PM	#2
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	My regex fu must be on the blink. This regex search should work, but it's not working in Sigil, does work in EditPad though, so perhaps it's a problem with the regex engine? Code: (?<=<span\sclass="(bold\|italics)">)(.+?)(?=</span>) The group that stores the text will be \2 (not the usual \1 - which here will be the bold\|italics class) Is that any use? EDIT: This works in Sigil (with your example). Search for Code: (?<=">)(.+?)(?=</) Last edited by Perkin; 01-18-2013 at 09:28 PM.

01-19-2013, 02:06 PM	#3
ElMiko Addict Posts: 320 Karma: 56788 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	Like Perkins, i'm a little befuddled as to the technical reason why the first search fails (It's a problem i've wrestled with before). It's got something to do with a conflict between the "or" symbol and the parentheses. But as I say, the nitty gritty of the regex issue escapes me. In order to achieve the matching result intended by Perkins original search, you need to restate each span in its entirety: Code: (?<=span class="italics">\|span class="bold">)(.?)(?=</span) @JSWolf—All that being said, your question is unclear. Are you looking for a search that will match either* span or both spans? And if it's the latter, the above regex will do the trick. If it's the former, it will be too greedy, and you obviously have to limit the look-behind to the desired span class. Also, are you just looking to match "bold" and "italics" spans, or are you trying to match all spans? if the latter, then you may want to use: Code: <span[^>]>(.?)</span> note that this search will (unlike the lookbehind searches) include the span code itself, as well as the text that it is modifying. Last edited by ElMiko; 01-19-2013 at 02:13 PM.

01-19-2013, 07:44 PM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,938 Karma: 128903250 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	An example of what I'd like to do is to take the uppercase of fake smallcaps and convert it to lowercase. So in cases where they've multiple spans on the same line, being able to select each one is important. <p>Just some text. <span class="SmallCaps">SOME SMALLCAP TEXT</span>. Some more text. <span class="SmallCaps">SOME MORE SMALLCAP TEXT</span>.</p> Now I've seen stuff like this... <p>Just some text. <span class="italic">S<span class="SmallCaps">OME</span> S<span class="SmallCaps">MALLCAP TEXT</span>.</span></p> Can this be done?

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01-20-2013, 07:01 AM	#6
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	Expanding on theducks answer, to combine the Spans in second example, you could use Code: <span class="SmallCaps">(.+?)</span>([\sA-Z])<span class="SmallCaps">(.+?)</span> and replace with Code: <span class="SmallCaps">\L\1\E\2\L\3</span> BEWARE The trouble using these sorts of regex is when they contain a name or word which has a uppercase letter inside, which would then get converted to lowercase. Last edited by Perkin; 01-20-2013 at 07:08 AM.*

01-22-2013, 08:39 AM	#7
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,938 Karma: 128903250 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Would any of these regex examples work if there was just one span, two spans, three spans, or even four spans. The problem is that with something like smallcaps, it's not a set amount of spans. So there's no way to know ahead of time how many spans exist in a given paragraph. Plus there could be other spans for other things in the same paragraph.

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