Script to reverse characters whole page or document

[r28071715i111]

Hi All

I have a document that have text frames containes characters are in reverse order

Ex : ( olleh ymar ) intstead of  ( hello ramy )

I want to script that change these reverse to be correct sentences in the curret page or in whole document

Thanks in advance

[r28071715i111]

Any help Here

[r28071715i111]

help here please

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Maybe this will help:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/how-do-i-change-text-direction-adobe-indesign/m-...

[m1b]

Just confirming, your situation is:

1. Ex : ( olleh ymar ) intstead of  ( hello ramy )

or

2. Ex : ( ymar olleh ) intstead of  ( hello ramy )

?

[r28071715i111]

1. Ex : ( olleh ymar ) intstead of  ( hello ramy )

[m1b]

Interesting! I am very curious how you got a document with words that are reversed. Quite unique! I have written a script that will reverse each word. Give it a try and see if it helps.

- Mark

/**
 * @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/script-to-reverse-characters-whole-page-or-document/m-p/14003574
 */
app.doScript(reverseWords, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, 'Script');


/**
 * Reverse order of characters of words of
 * (a) selection, if any, or of
 * (b) the entire active document.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2023-08-13
 * @Param {Text|TextFrame|Document} [texts] - the text or contiainer to reverse (default: active document).
 */
function reverseWords(texts) {

    texts = texts || app.selection[0];

    if (!texts)
        texts = app.activeDocument.stories.everyItem().getElements();

    if (texts.hasOwnProperty('stories'))
        texts = texts.stories.everyItem().getElements();

    if (texts.constructor.name !== 'Array')
        texts = [texts];

    /* uncomment the following lines to customize the deinfition of "word"
        app.findGrepPreferences = NothingEnum.NOTHING;
        app.changeGrepPreferences = NothingEnum.NOTHING;
        app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = '[[:alnum:]]+';
    */

    for (var i = 0; i < texts.length; i++) {

        if (
            !texts[i].isValid
            || !texts[i].hasOwnProperty('words')
        )
            continue;

        /* use the following definition of "words" if using findGrep */
        // var words = texts[i].findGrep();

        /* ... otherwise use Indesign's definition */
        var words = texts[i].words;

        for (var w = 0; w < words.length; w++) {

            var charCount = words[w].characters.length - 1;

            // add characters in reverse order
            for (var j = charCount; j >= 0; j--)
                words[w].characters[j].duplicate(LocationOptions.AT_END, words[w]);

            // remove the original text
            words[w].characters.itemByRange(0, charCount).remove();

        }

    }

};

Edit 2023-08-13: changed definition of "words" to use Indesign's normal definition.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Out of curiosity - why do you assume that numbers are not reversed as well? 

[m1b]

@Robert Tkaczyk, because I had no idea what I was talking about! 🙂  I see now that numbers will be reversed as well.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

I think everything between whitespaces should be reversed - as long as really each part is reversed individually... 

"ramy hello" is perfectly valid phrase ... 

[m1b]

I think you are probably right and so I have updated script.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Why not "move" instead of "duplicate" characters? You are going in reverse anyway so it should work?

[m1b]

I don't know why, except I couldn't get move to work (it was my first choice). It said something about not able to move text into itself I think.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Maybe it would work if you select as a destination InsertionPoint after the Word - instead of the Word itself? 

words[w].characters[j].move(LocationOptions.AT_END, words[w].insertionPoints[-1]);

[m1b]

I get:

Exception has occurred: 519
Text cannot be moved to its current location.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Right... 

How about referring to the character of the parent Story for the character to be moved - not the character of the word?

Something like:

word[w]. parentStory.characters[word[w].characters[j].index].move(...)

Or with "()" to get a reference to the character. 

But in the end it's probably unnecessary complication, that will work much slower than your initial deletion of the source part of the word?

[Willi Adelberger]

Did you try to choose a different composer in the paragraph style settings > Fine Tuning?

[r28071715i111]

The subject is that I installed a plugin that convert from pdf to indd that works only LTR , when i tried it on an arabic pdf , arabic characters are reversed , I want the script for this reason

[m1b]

Ah! So what happens to punctuation?

Is "hello ramy." written as (1) "olleh .ymar" or (2) "olleh ymar."

[Robert Tkaczyk]

@r28071715i111 - can you post example screenshot?

[Dirk Becker]

Reversing the character order is the wrong approach.

There are ME versions of InDesign for a reason.

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/arabic-hebrew.html

[Robert Tkaczyk]

The source is something extracted from the PDF - not the original INDD file... 

[m1b]

You are right @Dirk Becker, (and @Willi Adelberger too of course), but I am assuming the OP has reached for a last resort. It will not be pretty, but it may save them some time.

[Peter Kahrel]

@m1b 

Mark -- Reversing each individual word (i.e. changing the character direction but not the paragraph direction) may not be the correct approach, but, just for interest's sake, there is a much shorter and quicker way to do it. Copying (or moving) characters as character objects is very slow. Just reverse the strings:

words = app.documents[0].stories.everyItem().words.everyItem().getElements();
for (var i = words.length-1; i >= 0; i--) {
  words[i].contents = words[i].contents.split('').reverse().join('');
}

See also https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/reversing-selected-text-or-paragraph/m-p/6497724

P.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

But I think you are forgetting about one thing @Peter Kahrel - what if there are different CharStyles applied - or local formatting?