Word question

brianh · 08-24-2010, 03:16 PM

I know this is not the "MS Word" forum, but I'm trying to edit Word docs before converting to RTF and import into Calibre. Does anyone know how to Find/Replace broken sentences? Something like this in Word:

"Wind

and"

I can search for them (^$^p), but a replacement would loose my ^$ character. Using BBEdit or Jedit would give me better control, but then I loose all my formatting.

rhk · 08-24-2010, 03:38 PM

my lame solution was to search for: a^p (the letter A with no space, followed by a carriage return) replace with a[space] (the letter A with a space). Continue through all the letters in the alphabet.

It cleaned up most everything nicely.

jackie_w · 08-24-2010, 04:58 PM

You could try the following, which is 4 passes. I wrap them in a Word macro to make it less tedious.

Pass 1 - with 'Use wildcards' option unchecked

Code:

Find:^w^p
ReplaceAll:^p

Pass 2 - with 'Use wildcards' option unchecked

Code:

Find:^p^w
ReplaceAll:^p

Pass 3 - with 'Use wildcards' option checked

Code:

Find:([!-])^13([a-z])
ReplaceAll:\1 \2

Pass 4 - with 'Use wildcards' option checked

Code:

Find:([-])^13([a-z])
ReplaceAll:\1\2

Notes:

Pass 1 - remove trailing spaces
Pass 2 - remove leading spaces
Pass 3 - remove end-of-paragraph char and replace with space if last-char of 1st line is not hyphen AND first-char of next line is lowercase a-z
Pass 4 - remove end-of-paragraph if last-char of 1st line is hyphen and first-char of next line is lowercase a-z

jackie_w · 08-24-2010, 05:10 PM

... follow-up. You are advised to do this before you spend a lot of time formating your document as any Find/Replace which removes end-of-paragraph markers is prone to removing formating associated with that paragraph.

Manichean · 08-24-2010, 06:12 PM

I don't know about Word, but OpenOffice supports regexp-searches, using which your problem would boil down to replacing "\n\n" with "", I believe. Try it, it's free

08-24-2010, 03:16 PM	#1
brianh Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Word question I know this is not the "MS Word" forum, but I'm trying to edit Word docs before converting to RTF and import into Calibre. Does anyone know how to Find/Replace broken sentences? Something like this in Word: "Wind and" I can search for them (^$^p), but a replacement would loose my ^$ character. Using BBEdit or Jedit would give me better control, but then I loose all my formatting.

08-24-2010, 04:58 PM	#3
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,270 Karma: 16544702 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	You could try the following, which is 4 passes. I wrap them in a Word macro to make it less tedious. Pass 1 - with 'Use wildcards' option unchecked Code: Find:^w^p ReplaceAll:^p Pass 2 - with 'Use wildcards' option unchecked Code: Find:^p^w ReplaceAll:^p Pass 3 - with 'Use wildcards' option checked Code: Find:([!-])^13([a-z]) ReplaceAll:\1 \2 Pass 4 - with 'Use wildcards' option checked Code: Find:([-])^13([a-z]) ReplaceAll:\1\2 Notes: Pass 1 - remove trailing spaces Pass 2 - remove leading spaces Pass 3 - remove end-of-paragraph char and replace with space if last-char of 1st line is not hyphen AND first-char of next line is lowercase a-z Pass 4 - remove end-of-paragraph if last-char of 1st line is hyphen and first-char of next line is lowercase a-z

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08-24-2010, 03:38 PM	#2
rhk Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle	my lame solution was to search for: a^p (the letter A with no space, followed by a carriage return) replace with a[space] (the letter A with a space). Continue through all the letters in the alphabet. It cleaned up most everything nicely.

08-24-2010, 05:10 PM	#4
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,270 Karma: 16544702 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	... follow-up. You are advised to do this before you spend a lot of time formating your document as any Find/Replace which removes end-of-paragraph markers is prone to removing formating associated with that paragraph.

08-24-2010, 06:12 PM	#5
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	I don't know about Word, but OpenOffice supports regexp-searches, using which your problem would boil down to replacing "\n\n" with "", I believe. Try it, it's free

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