File Splitter won't split

[dmitry tulyakov]

Hi Mike

I have an issue using File Splitter: I get the message that the text separator is not found in the text -- even though it is there for sure.

Maybe the reason File Splitter is not working is because the files I want to get are very small. I have numbered all the paragraphs in the files I want to split and now I want to get one file for each paragraph using <p#> as the text separator. The minimum required size for the output file is 5 (though I don't know what the unit of measurement is). Maybe the paragraphs are shorter than that?

If the file size is the issue, is there a way I can get around it?

Best wishes,

Dmitriy

[Mike Scott]

Hi Dmitriy

The reason is that # is a special symbol in Splitter. It refers to a number. https://lexically.net/downloads/version8/HTML/wildcards_info.html explains. So Splitter kis looking for p immediately followed by a number -- and doesn't find it. I suggest you simply replace p# by something like p"#" or some word you know that won't be in your text.

The number 5 refers to lines of text. Sorry that's not clear in the Help!

Cheers -- Mike

[dmitry tulyakov]

Hi Mike,

I’m afraid that’s not the issue. In my file, <p# refers to things like <p1, <p2 and so on. These are the beginnings of the paragraphs as numbered by WordSmith.

I tried including and using a different separator between the same chunks, ---, and still no luck.

I guess I’m doing something wrong; I just don't know what.

Best wishes,
Dmitriy

[Mike Scott]

Hi Dmitriy

I will test here with a sample file, then get back to you.

Cheers

[Mike Scott]

I tested with this little text. (Don't worry about the words, I pasted repetition into it.) It gave me 3 text files as a result.

Note: the minimum of 5 lines is probably causing trouble. as the Help tells you, a line is from one <Enter> to the next, which is approx one paragraph to the next if your text is nicely formatted. (Not nicely = with an <Enter> at the end of each line in my opinion!)

I'm writing the new 64 bit WS. When I do the Splitter function I can try to reduce the minimum to 1 line.

Cheers

[dmitry tulyakov]

Hi Mike

You're right: it's the five line rule that was causing the issue. I've enlarged the chunks by four empty lines each using the search-and-replace function in a text editor, and now everything splits perfectly.

Thank you for all the trouble!

Best wishes,

Dmitriy

[Mike Scott]

Good solution, Dmitriy!