Adjust German HTML Typography

Function to fix and adjust quotations and dashes to correct german typography in text for html-use. It set's quotations and dashes (Gedankenstrich).

The quotations can be set to the both forms used in german text. This type: „quote“/‚quote‘ and that type: »quote«/›quote‹. The dash (Gedankenstrich) is set to a Halbgeviertelstrich.

This function is useful for web-based cms systems. The user doesn't have to worry about a consistent typography and can use the fast to type but wrong style with: " ' -.

Comments and enhancements are welcome.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use integer;
use warnings;
use HTML::Entities;

# typoadjust
# in: text, quotation-style (1 = german, other = french)
# out: adjusted text
sub typoadjust {
    $_ = encode_entities(decode_entities(shift));
    # fix quotations
    if (shift == 1) {
        s/(^|\s)(&#34;|&#8220;|&#187;|&#171;)/$1&bdquo;/g;
        s/(&#34;|&#171;|&#187;|&#8221;)($|[\s\-])/&ldquo;$2/g;
        s/(^|\s)('|&#8216;|&#8249;|&#8250;)/$1&sbquo;/g;
        s/('|&#8249;|&#8250;|&#8217;)($|[\s\-])/&lsquo;$2/g;
    } else {
        s/(^|\s)(&#34;|&#8222;|&#8220;|&#171;)/$1&raquo;/g;
        s/(&#34;|&#8220;|&#8221;|&#187;)($|[\s\-])/&laquo;$2/g;
        s/(^|\s)('|&#8216;|&#8218;|&#8249;)/$1&rsaquo;/g;
        s/('|&#8216;|&#8217;|&#8250;)($|[\s\-])/&lsaquo;$2/g;
    }
    # fix dash
    s/(\s)-(\s)/$1&ndash;$2/g;
    return decode_entities($_);
}
[download]

Comment on Adjust German HTML Typography Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Adjust German HTML Typography by shenme (Priest) on Oct 02, 2004 at 00:12 UTC
I wonder if this might be useful in the Lingua series of CPAN modules? Hmmm, it seems strange that there are only three Lingua-DE modules so far.	[reply]
Re: Adjust German HTML Typography by Beechbone (Friar) on Oct 07, 2004 at 23:06 UTC
You might want to add: `s/(\S)---?(\S)/$1 – $2/g;` to catch english-style dashes, and maybe even: `s/(\s)–\s+([^.]+?)\s+–(\s)/$1– $2 –$3/g;` to prevent things like "Dann ging er -- so wie er war -- nach Hause." to break like this: Dann ging er -- so wie er war -- nach Hause. _Search, Ask, ^Know	[reply] [d/l] [select]