My RegEx works in Test but not for Add Books

kanigetts · 09-08-2012, 04:16 PM

I have a RegEx that I customized to Add Books and populate metadata. It works perfectly in the test but has different behavior when in actual use. It also works perfectly using RegEx Buddy software with the Python settings so it seems correct. What could account for the change in behavior? My RegEx:

(?P<series>[^_-]+) -?\s*(?P<series_index>[0-9]*) -?\s*(?P<title>[^_-]+) -?\s*(?P<author>[^_].+) ?

The String: BookSeries - 01 - Book Title - Book Author.epub

Test Result:

Author: Book Author
Series: BookSeries
Series Index: 01
Title: BookSeries - 01 - Book Title

Add Books Result:

Author: Book Author
Series: BookSeries
Series Index: 01
Title: Book Series - 01 - Book Title

If I change it slightly so that the input file name has two words before the first "-", it works fine in both the test and add books as well as in Regex Buddy. Like this:

The String: Book Series - 01 - Book Title - Book Author.epub

Test Result:

Author: Book Author
Series: Book Series
Series Index: 01
Title: Book Title

Add Books Result:

Author: Book Author
Series: Book Series
Series Index: 01
Title: Book Title

I've messed with it and had a number of variations that also worked fine in test and with RegEx Buddy, but still no love when I add books. I can't figure out why it seems to need two words before the "-", but only in Add Books. I'm just beginning to understand and use Regular Expressions and this one has me stumped. It's especially frustrating since I get different results with Test and Add Books.

kanigetts · 09-08-2012, 04:26 PM

I figured out a fix just after posting. If I remove the space in the first part of the regular expression, it will take a one word series name in the first position without screwing up the Title extraction. Why this works and why it's only needed in the first instance and only for Add Books and not Test, I don't understand, but at least I can move on.

Works for one word series: (?P<series>[^_-]+)-?\s*
Doesn't work for one word series: (?P<series>[^_-]+) -?\s*

kanigetts · 09-08-2012, 04:40 PM

I spoke too soon. The above fix works for .txt files but not for .mobi or .epub. This is truly beyond my comprehension.

JustForFun · 09-08-2012, 05:18 PM

The '?' after the '-' look a little bit suspicious to me and may be responsible. If your books file names are all in the format

Book Series - 01 - Book Title - Book Author.epub

try this:

Code:

(?P<series>[^_-]+) -\s*(?P<series_index>[0-9]+) -\s*(?P<title>[^_-]+) -\s*(?P<author>[^_].+) ?

This will only work for the above mentioned pattern. If you have books without series or with series but without series number or any other combination it will not work.

As an interesting note, in my older calibre version (0.8.55), your original regex did extract the book title correctly in the test.

kovidgoyal · 09-09-2012, 12:10 AM

You probably forgot to change the setting to read metadata from filenames instead of file contents.

p_garvie · 09-17-2012, 04:07 PM

hi im trying to add all my books to calibre however i have my directories set up as
eg.
Drive\books\Author\series\series# - Title
c:\books\anthony, piers\xanthe\01 - A spell for chameleon
i have found a default string in the add books section of the setting:
(?P<author>[^_-]+) -?\s*(?P<series>[^_0-9-]*)(?P<series_index>[0-9]*)\s*-\s*(?P<title>[^_].+) ?

using this string i get
Title: A spell for chameleon
author: Anthony, Piers\xanth\01

what i want is
Title: a spell for chameleon
Author: Anthony piers
Series: xanth
Series number: 01

ne ideas how to get this??

p_garvie · 09-17-2012, 04:14 PM

also just so you know i have them set up this way in my directories because i dont feel i need to know the authors name or series name cuz for the longest time i was adding them to my phone and was a palm handset and didnt show the full name and title so i just went through and hand edited them to the author\series\# - title cuz id usually only be able to see the first half of the name
i now have a galaxy note and my girlfriend has a kobo touch so id like to use calibre to add them to our devices i can still do it the old way on my phone but i need to convert them to epub for her device, and it easier to do them in batch than going into each dir and converting them from the .pdb (palm format)

theducks · 09-17-2012, 04:39 PM

Calibre (REGEX) only looks at the file name... Not any of the Path.

p_garvie · 09-17-2012, 07:04 PM

actually it seems to work for most of them its just a few that messes up
cuz like i said i have them set into directories of author then directories of series then their all done as a number and title of the book
c:\books\anthony, piers\xanth\01 - A spell for chameleon.pdb
so when i gather books from directories including their sub directory i just brows to the directory the books are in and it takes the authors directory as the authors name and the second directory as the series but it doesnt do it all the time for some reason and i have to number them manually as the numbers are part of the title.
it didnt work in the in calibre test but it does in calibre some of the time.
thnx for the help neways.

p_garvie · 09-17-2012, 07:05 PM

unless of course theres info in the file itself that calibre looks at??

theducks · 09-17-2012, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p_garvie

actually it seems to work for most of them its just a few that messes up
cuz like i said i have them set into directories of author then directories of series then their all done as a number and title of the book
c:\books\anthony, piers\xanth\01 - A spell for chameleon.pdb
so when i gather books from directories including their sub directory i just brows to the directory the books are in and it takes the authors directory as the authors name and the second directory as the series but it doesnt do it all the time for some reason and i have to number them manually as the numbers are part of the title.
it didnt work in the in calibre test but it does in calibre some of the time.
thnx for the help neways.

That info is probably in the Metadata insid the book.
It all depends on the setting in 'Adding Books': Filename or Metadata

DoctorOhh · 09-18-2012, 02:59 AM

If you want to get the info from the file name then you are going to have to rename the files to include the info you now have in the directory structure prior to adding the books. As theducks stated whether you grab metadata info from the filename or from the book can be found in Preferences - Adding books check or uncheck the top box as desired.

09-08-2012, 04:16 PM	#1
kanigetts Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kindle 4	My RegEx works in Test but not for Add Books I have a RegEx that I customized to Add Books and populate metadata. It works perfectly in the test but has different behavior when in actual use. It also works perfectly using RegEx Buddy software with the Python settings so it seems correct. What could account for the change in behavior? My RegEx: (?P<series>[^_-]+) -?\s(?P<series_index>[0-9]) -?\s(?P<title>[^_-]+) -?\s(?P<author>[^_].+) ? The String: BookSeries - 01 - Book Title - Book Author.epub Test Result: Author: Book Author Series: BookSeries Series Index: 01 Title: BookSeries - 01 - Book Title Add Books Result: Author: Book Author Series: BookSeries Series Index: 01 Title: Book Series - 01 - Book Title If I change it slightly so that the input file name has two words before the first "-", it works fine in both the test and add books as well as in Regex Buddy. Like this: The String: Book Series - 01 - Book Title - Book Author.epub Test Result: Author: Book Author Series: Book Series Series Index: 01 Title: Book Title Add Books Result: Author: Book Author Series: Book Series Series Index: 01 Title: Book Title I've messed with it and had a number of variations that also worked fine in test and with RegEx Buddy, but still no love when I add books. I can't figure out why it seems to need two words before the "-", but only in Add Books. I'm just beginning to understand and use Regular Expressions and this one has me stumped. It's especially frustrating since I get different results with Test and Add Books.

09-08-2012, 05:18 PM	#4
JustForFun Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 752 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: PB360	The '?' after the '-' look a little bit suspicious to me and may be responsible. If your books file names are all in the format Book Series - 01 - Book Title - Book Author.epub try this: Code: (?P<series>[^_-]+) -\s(?P<series_index>[0-9]+) -\s(?P<title>[^_-]+) -\s*(?P<author>[^_].+) ? This will only work for the above mentioned pattern. If you have books without series or with series but without series number or any other combination it will not work. As an interesting note, in my older calibre version (0.8.55), your original regex did extract the book title correctly in the test.

09-17-2012, 04:14 PM	#7
p_garvie Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: samsung galaxy note(cool reader), Kobo & Kobo Touch	also just so you know i have them set up this way in my directories because i dont feel i need to know the authors name or series name cuz for the longest time i was adding them to my phone and was a palm handset and didnt show the full name and title so i just went through and hand edited them to the author\series\# - title cuz id usually only be able to see the first half of the name i now have a galaxy note and my girlfriend has a kobo touch so id like to use calibre to add them to our devices i can still do it the old way on my phone but i need to convert them to epub for her device, and it easier to do them in batch than going into each dir and converting them from the .pdb (palm format) Last edited by p_garvie; 09-17-2012 at 07:06 PM.

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09-08-2012, 04:26 PM	#2
kanigetts Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kindle 4	I figured out a fix just after posting. If I remove the space in the first part of the regular expression, it will take a one word series name in the first position without screwing up the Title extraction. Why this works and why it's only needed in the first instance and only for Add Books and not Test, I don't understand, but at least I can move on. Works for one word series: (?P<series>[^_-]+)-?\s* Doesn't work for one word series: (?P<series>[^_-]+) -?\s*

09-08-2012, 04:40 PM	#3
kanigetts Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kindle 4	I spoke too soon. The above fix works for .txt files but not for .mobi or .epub. This is truly beyond my comprehension.

09-09-2012, 12:10 AM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,149 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You probably forgot to change the setting to read metadata from filenames instead of file contents.

09-17-2012, 04:07 PM	#6
p_garvie Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: samsung galaxy note(cool reader), Kobo & Kobo Touch	hi im trying to add all my books to calibre however i have my directories set up as eg. Drive\books\Author\series\series# - Title c:\books\anthony, piers\xanthe\01 - A spell for chameleon i have found a default string in the add books section of the setting: (?P<author>[^_-]+) -?\s(?P<series>[^_0-9-])(?P<series_index>[0-9])\s-\s*(?P<title>[^_].+) ? using this string i get Title: A spell for chameleon author: Anthony, Piers\xanth\01 what i want is Title: a spell for chameleon Author: Anthony piers Series: xanth Series number: 01 ne ideas how to get this??

09-17-2012, 04:39 PM	#8
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,882 Karma: 59840450 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Calibre (REGEX) only looks at the file name... Not any of the Path.

09-17-2012, 07:04 PM	#9
p_garvie Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: samsung galaxy note(cool reader), Kobo & Kobo Touch	actually it seems to work for most of them its just a few that messes up cuz like i said i have them set into directories of author then directories of series then their all done as a number and title of the book c:\books\anthony, piers\xanth\01 - A spell for chameleon.pdb so when i gather books from directories including their sub directory i just brows to the directory the books are in and it takes the authors directory as the authors name and the second directory as the series but it doesnt do it all the time for some reason and i have to number them manually as the numbers are part of the title. it didnt work in the in calibre test but it does in calibre some of the time. thnx for the help neways.

09-17-2012, 07:05 PM	#10
p_garvie Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: samsung galaxy note(cool reader), Kobo & Kobo Touch	unless of course theres info in the file itself that calibre looks at??

09-18-2012, 02:59 AM	#12
DoctorOhh US Navy, Retired Posts: 9,888 Karma: 13806776 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: North Carolina Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Kindle PaperWhite SE 11th Gen	If you want to get the info from the file name then you are going to have to rename the files to include the info you now have in the directory structure prior to adding the books. As theducks stated whether you grab metadata info from the filename or from the book can be found in Preferences - Adding books check or uncheck the top box as desired.

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