112 exclamation marks followed by a non-space character in (e.g.) Acts 27:39)

[DavidHaslam]

After I corrected the punctuation marks that were clearly wrong, Acts 27:39 reads:

\v 39 ਜਦ ਦਿਨ ਚੜ੍ਹਿਆ ਤਦ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਉਸ ਦੇਸ਼ ਨੂੰ ਨਾ ਪਛਾਤਾ ਪਰ ਇੱਕ ਖਾੜੀ ਡਿੱਠੀ ਜਿਹ ਦਾ ਕੰਡਾ ਪੱਧਰਾ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਉਹ ਸਲਾਹ ਕਰਨ ਲੱਗੇ ਭਈ ਅਸੀਂ ਜਹਾਜ਼ ਨੂੰ ਧੱਕ ਕੇ ਉਸ ਉੱਤੇ ਚੜ੍ਹਾ ਸਕਦੇ ਹਾਂ ਕਿ ਨਹੀ !ਲਾ ਕੀਤਾ।

The last but one word !ਲਾ begins with !

Is this due to a missing space? Should the verse actually read:

\v 39 ਜਦ ਦਿਨ ਚੜ੍ਹਿਆ ਤਦ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਉਸ ਦੇਸ਼ ਨੂੰ ਨਾ ਪਛਾਤਾ ਪਰ ਇੱਕ ਖਾੜੀ ਡਿੱਠੀ ਜਿਹ ਦਾ ਕੰਡਾ ਪੱਧਰਾ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਉਹ ਸਲਾਹ ਕਰਨ ਲੱਗੇ ਭਈ ਅਸੀਂ ਜਹਾਜ਼ ਨੂੰ ਧੱਕ ਕੇ ਉਸ ਉੱਤੇ ਚੜ੍ਹਾ ਸਕਦੇ ਹਾਂ ਕਿ ਨਹੀ | ਲਾ ਕੀਤਾ।

i.e. Replace the exclamation mark by a vertical line plus space.

[DavidHaslam]

See also issue #42

[DavidHaslam]

The example in Acts 27:39 is but one instance of a much wider problem.

A search of the concatenated USFM file for the regexp !\S gave 112 matches.

A proportion of these are where an exclamation mark was used where a vertical line would be expected, but not all of them fall into this category.

Matches for exclamation mark followed by a non-space.txt

Each instance needs to be reviewed and corrected where necessary.

[DavidHaslam]

Not only that, but there are also 228 matches to the regexp \?\S where a question mark is followed by a non-space character.

Matches for question mark followed by a non-space.txt

Each of these also needs to be reviewed, etc.

[DavidHaslam]

And even worse, there are:

2649 matches to the regexp ,\S where a comma is followed by a non-space character. 7 matches to the regexp ;\S where a semicolon is followed by a non-space character. 7 matches to the regexp .[^0 ] where a full-stop is followed by a non-space character other than 0. 9 matches to the regexp \:\S where a colon is followed by a non-space character.

[DeepaRani3012]

Corrected

[DavidHaslam]

The claimed "correction" must refer only to one instance.

Following Joshy's merge #81 today, a search of the concatenated USFM file for the regexp !\S now gives 119 matches.

So we now have 7 more than the original 112. And that's only for the exclamation mark anomaly.

Still a long way to go, friends.

[DavidHaslam]

Following the merge of pull request #96 there are no remaining instances in Acts of an exclamation mark followed by a non-space character (regexp !\S ).

However, there are still 110 exclamation marks in Acts, each of which must be reviewed. It is quite likely that most of these were typos for a single danda (formerly keyed elsewhere as a vertical line).

The wider problems remain, so this issue must remain open.