When Punctuation Repeats Within a Field (Import Filters and Connection Files)

A special formatting character called a "vertical bar" (|) can be placed in a filter to indicate a repeating separator within a field. For example, you may have a data file where a period followed by a space separates a journal name from the volume. However, in some cases, this separator is part of the journal name itself, with the result that a period and a space cannot be reliably used to distinguish a journal name from the volume. For example:

          SO:  Science. 10 (3): p. 80-90

The above source line would be defined in a filter as:

Tag

Field(s)

SO:

Journal. Volume (Issue): p. Pages

Another source line in the same data file might look like this:

          SO:  Proc. Nat.

The problem arises in the second source line where the separator between the journal and volume (period and a space) is found repeatedly within the journal. The SO: line in the filter instructs EndNote to import the data up to the period and space into the Journal field. Consequently, EndNote would parse "Proc." as the journal name, and everything after the period up to the open parenthesis as the volume, so the volume would be "Nat. Acad.".

There is a way to indicate a repeating separator within a field in the filter. If you place a vertical bar (|) before the separator, this instructs EndNote to read up to the last occurrence of this separator. In the example above, if we place a vertical bar before the repeating Journal field separator (period and space), the SO: line in the filter would look like this:

Tag

Field(s)

SO:

Journal|. Volume (Issue): p. Pages

This SO: line in the filter instructs EndNote to import all the data with the period followed by a space separator as a journal. Here, EndNote would import "Proc. Nat." as the Journal, and "13" as the Volume.

Related Topics

Fields with Special Characteristics

Literal Text vs. EndNote Fields

Templates for Different Reference Types

The {IGNORE} Field

The Basic Components of a Filter

The Filter Manager

The Reference Type Tag

The Source Line

Tips for Entering Tags and Fields

Working with Filter Templates