However, the use of regular expressions and its documentation can be extremely complicated, since they are almost exclusively part of the geek community. They are readily available in most text editor programs, such as Notepad++, so you don’t need any special software to use them. Regular expressions, or “regexes”, have been used by programmers for years as part of the development process for user interfaces and for coding. Prevent repetitive boredom and insanity.

The three main benefits of using regular expressions as part of your workflow in eBook design are as follows:

These are powerful tools to ensure that you can find and replace specific pieces of markup and content in your HTML source file. However, this would be time-consuming and you would most likely make a mistake or two along the way.Ī solution that can find and replace strings utilizing logic is regular expressions. You might consider cycling through every single apostrophe and checking to see if it should be changed to a fancy apostrophe. don’t, can’t, etc.) Hmm…this would not be possible using a simple find and replace tool. However, what if you wanted to replace a fancy apostrophe only on apostrophes that were within a word (i.e. ’), you could use a simple “find n’ replace” tool like the one utilized in Microsoft Word or Open Office to get the job done.

For example, if you wanted to replace every single straight up and down apostrophe (i.e. When working with large amounts of text, such as the HTML source for an eBook, it is advantageous to be able to find and replace specific strings of text in your document.

Practical Regular Expressions for eBook Design.

Matching Groups of Characters and Special Characters.

A PDF version is available upon request following purchase. In it you will find comprehensive HTML, CSS, and Regular Expression tutorials, as well as a step-by-step workflow for turning a sloppy manuscript into a beautiful eBook that is only available in this guide. Regular Expression Crash Course for eBooks The eBook Design and Development Guideįor complete access to all the templates, tips, and tricks that BB eBooks uses for eBook production, please consider buying the eBook Design and Development Guide at Amazon for only $6.99.

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