Question regarding search & replace function

[Salvsum]

Hi, I haven't been able to get the plugin working, unfortunately.

However, besides that point, I'd like to know if there's a way to use your profanity list in the Convert eBook -> Search & Replace section of Calibre, rather than using the plugin. Note that you can Load and Save lists of expressions to search and replace.

I'm not a programmer, and am finding it hard to wrap my head around regular expressions. For the moment, I've simply made a basic list of words to be replaced with asterisks.

I apologise if this isn't the right place to leave a message like this, but I wasn't able to find another way to contact you (jdanders). :)

[jdanders]

Hi, there is not an efficient way to use the Convert function of Calibre to do what my script does. There are hundreds of replacements and they use features not available in the Convert function.

You are correct -- regular expressions are pretty much the worst :)

If you'd like more help getting the plugin to work, let me know what you've tried and what's not working.

[Salvsum]

If you'd like more help getting the plugin to work, let me know what you've tried and what's not working.

I've just installed Calibre on a fresh install of Windows 11, and use DeDRM to remove DRM from my Kobo books - purely for the purpose of filtering bad language.

I installed your language cleaner plugin, imported a book anew, then converted it from epub to epub. At this stage, I would expect the language to have been filtered, but nothing has changed. I've tried converting the same book a second time from epub to epub, but still no change.

Edit: FYI, the Kobo books are originally protected by Adobe DRM.

Edit 2: Upon checking c:/Scratch/calibre, the files generated don't contain any of the actual book's content, only some code for fonts, colours etc.

[jdanders]

I have seen that behavior before, but I haven't had a chance to figure out what has broken things. Your best bet might be to downgrade to an older version of Calibre. The user in Issue #3 suggests that 3.39.1 works, but you'll have to start the library from scratch.

[Salvsum]

I downgraded to Calibre 3.39.1, as suggested in Issue #3. Now there are two issues:

1. The plugin does not stay installed after restarting Calibre - it can be reinstalled, but disappears again after a Calibre restart.
2. The plugin still doesn't make any changes to ebooks, even when ostensibly installed, before restarting Calibre.

I also tried Calibre version 3.48.0, to no avail.

[jdanders]

I just got some new ebooks and they worked correctly with the latest version of Calibre. So it must be something specific with the books. Could you send me one of the ones you're having trouble with? Just upload it and post the link here.

[Salvsum]

I purchase ebooks on the Kobo store - Kobo provides ebooks as ACSM files that can only be opened using Adobe Digital Editions. This program allows access to actual (DRM locked) epub files.

Next, I bring ebooks into Calibre, and use the DeDRM_tools Calibre plugin to remove DRM, because ebooks locked by DRM cannot be read or converted in Calibre.

Due to the nature and purpose of DRM protected content, I'm not comfortable sharing a DRM-stripped ebook - but perhaps you could try reproducing the issue using the information provided above. If you employ a similar process that works, or if I'm missing something, please let me know!

[jdanders]

@Salvsum: I ran across some books with similar issues -- the plugin didn't make any changes. I've fixed the issue now in the latest release. Feel free to try it out and let me know if it fixes it for you.