Backup of PraatScriptTips(No. 15)

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Praat Script Tips
Small but Complete Scripts

Praat Script Tips †

When you prompt the user to specify a particular folder/directory in the form, it might be better to write a script in which the path separator is complemented if necessary, regardless of the platform.

Sample Script:

filename$ = "hoge.TextGrid"

form Specify the folder
    sentence dir c:\foo\bar
endform

if windows = 1
    pathSep$ = "\"
elsif macintosh + unix >= 1
    pathSep$ = "/"
else
    exit sorry. Unknown platform.
endif

if endsWith(dir$,pathSep$) = 0
    dir$ = dir$ + pathSep$
endif
    
echo 'dir$''filename$'

If you make some modifications to a TextGrid tier which may cause the change of the total number of the intervals/points, it would be better to manipulate it form the last to the first (rather than the first to the last), so as to the index of the current interval/point is kept constant while processing.

Sample TextGrid: sample_concat.TextGrid

Sample Script: Concatenate intervals to the right if the labels end with concatSymbol$.

# concat intervals to the right 
# if the label ends with concatSymbol$

concatSymbol$ = "+"
targetTierNum = 1
n = Get number of intervals... 'targetTierNum'

n = n-1
while n >= 1
    currentLabel$ = Get label of interval... 'targetTierNum' n
    if endsWith(currentLabel$,concatSymbol$) = 1
#        currentLabel$ = currentLabel$ - concatSymbol$
#        Set interval text... 'targetTierNum' n 'currentLabel$'
        Remove right boundary... 'targetTierNum' n
    endif
    n = n-1
endwhile

Cf. Bad Script (an error occurs)

# BAD SCRIPT (from the first to the last)
# This does not work!

concatSymbol$ = "+"
targetTierNum = 1
n = Get number of intervals... 'targetTierNum'

for i from 1 to n-1
    currentLabel$ = Get label of interval... 'targetTierNum' i
    if endsWith(currentLabel$,concatSymbol$) = 1
#        currentLabel$ = currentLabel$ - concatSymbol$
#        Set interval text... 'targetTierNum' i 'currentLabel$'
        Remove right boundary... 'targetTierNum' i
    endif
endfor

↑

Small but Complete Scripts †

The scripts presented below are of little use per se.
It is easy to see, however, how they work.

↑

Emulation of Perl's $`, $&, and $' †

Extract the substring matched with a regular expression.

string$ = "abcdefg"
regex$ = "b[^e]*"

prematch$ = ""
match$ = ""
postmatch$ = ""
pos = index_regex(string$,regex$)
if pos <> 0
    prematch$ = left$(string$,pos-1)
    match$ = right$(string$,length(string$)-pos+1)
    postmatch$ = replace_regex$(match$,regex$,"",1)
    match$ = match$ - postmatch$
endif

clearinfo
printline 'prematch$''tab$''match$''tab$''postmatch$'

Result:

a	bcd	efg

Cf. An equivalent perl script:

$string = "abcdefg";
$regex = "b[^e]*";

$string =~ m/$regex/;
print "$`\t$&\t$'\n";

↑

Emulation of Perl's split function †

Modified May 20, 2011. It still has a bug, however*1.

The subscripts start at 0.
The last subscript is stored in lastSub.
delimiter$ is specified by a regular expression.

string$ = "hoge/piyo/foo/bar"
delimiter$ = "/"

if index_regex("",delimiter$) = 1
    tmp$ = replace_regex$(string$,delimiter$,"",0)
    lastSub = length(tmp$)-1
    for i from 0 to lastSub
        arr$[i] = mid$(tmp$,i+1,1)
    endfor
else
    lastSub = 0
    arr$[lastSub] = string$
    repeat
        lastValue$ = arr$[lastSub]
        delimiterPos = index_regex(lastValue$,delimiter$)
        if delimiterPos <> 0
            arr$[lastSub] = left$(lastValue$,delimiterPos-1)
            lastSub = lastSub+1
            arr$[lastSub] = replace_regex$(right$(lastValue$,length(lastValue$)-delimiterPos+1),delimiter$,"",1)
        endif
    until delimiterPos = 0
endif

clearinfo
for i from 0 to lastSub
    hop$ = arr$[i]
    printline 'i''tab$''hop$'
endfor

Unimportant note: hoge and piyo, which appear in the first line of the script, are metasyntactic variables widely used in Japan, comparable to foo and bar in English.

Result:

0	hoge
1	piyo
2	foo
3	bar

Cf. An equivalent Perl Script:

$string = "hoge/piyo/foo/bar";
$delimiter = "/";

@arr = split(/$delimiter/,$string);

for ( $i = 0 ; $i <= $#arr ; $i++ ) {
    print "$i\t$arr[$i]\n";
}

See also:
- http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/manual/Scripting_5_6__Arrays.html

↑

Check your Praat Version †

requiredVersion = 5209
# commas omitted (the above means "version 5.2.09")

if praatVersion < requiredVersion
    exit Your Praat (Version 'praatVersion') is too old. Use Version 'requiredVersion' or newer.
endif

See also:
- http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/manual/Scripting_5_1__Variables.html (for predefined numeric variables)

↑

Get the path separator for your platform †

Get the path separator for your platform, and
Rewrite the path.
- You can write a script which works on any platforms.

input$ = "c:/foo/bar/hoge.TextGrid"
output$ = "c:/foo/bar/result"
#input$ = "c:\foo\bar\hoge.TextGrid"
#output$ = "c:\foo\bar\result"

if windows = 1
    pathSep$ = "\"
    notPathSep$ = "/"
elsif macintosh + unix >= 1
    pathSep$ = "/"
    notPathSep$ = "\"
else
   exit Sorry. Unknown platform.
endif
input$ = replace$(input$,notPathSep$,pathSep$,0)
output$ = replace$(output$,notPathSep$,pathSep$,0)

clearinfo
printline 'input$'
printline 'output$'

Result (using Windows Praat on Cygwin):

c:\foo\bar\hoge.TextGrid
c:\foo\bar\result

See also:
- http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/manual/Scripting_5_1__Variables.html (for predefined numeric variables)

↑

Get the path and filename from a string †

dir$ = "c:/hoge/piyo/foo.TextGrid"
#dir$ = "c:\hoge\piyo\foo.TextGrid"

if windows + macintosh + unix = 0
   exit Sorry. Unknown platform.
endif

path$ = left$(dir$,rindex_regex(dir$,"[/\\]"))
filename$ = right$(dir$,length(dir$)-rindex_regex(dir$,"[/\\]"))
## if you have the path separator (pathSep$) already, you can write:
#path$ = left$(dir$,rindex(dir$,pathSep$))
#filename$ = right$(dir$,length(dir$)-rindex(dir$,pathSep$))

clearinfo
printline 'path$'
printline 'filename$'

Result:

c:/hoge/piyo/
foo.TextGrid

↑

Upper to Lower Case †

str$ = "ABCDEFG"

newstr$ = replace_regex$(str$,"[A-Z]","\L&",0)

echo 'newstr$'

Result:

abcdefg

See also:
- http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/praat-users/message/5278

↑

Get the tiernumbers from tiernames †

If you already know the names of the target tiers (e.g., "Seg," "Word"), ...

file$ = "N:\sample\sample.TextGrid"

Read from file... 'file$'

segTierNum = 0
wordTierNum = 0
n = Get number of tiers
for i from 1 to n
    currentTier$ = Get tier name... i
    if currentTier$ = "Seg"
        segTierNum = i
    elsif currentTier$ = "Word"
        wordTierNum = i
    endif
endfor
if segTierNum = 0
    exit Seg tier not found in 'file$'
elsif wordTierNum = 0
    exit Word tier not found in 'file$'
endif

clearinfo
printline Seg tier:  'segTierNum'
printline Word tier: 'wordTierNum'

↑

Recover the Object List to the previous state †

# Before trying this script, make several objects 
# on the Object List and select some of them.

selectedObjectNum = numberOfSelected()
for i from 1 to selectedObjectNum
    selectedID[i] = selected(i)
endfor

select all
pause All objects are selected. Press "Continue" to recover the previous state.

if selectedObjectNum <> 0 
    select selectedID[1]
    for i from 2 to selectedObjectNum
        plus selectedID[i]
    endfor
endif

Backup of PraatScriptTips (No. 15)