[sword-devel] Strong's numbers: Numbers or strings

Tobias Klein contact at tklein.info
Fri Jan 28 12:21:59 EST 2022


The way I've been dealing with this (the dynamic translation-dependent 0 
prefix in Hebrew Strong's) in node-sword-interface is prefixing the 
search term for H*** strong's searches only if the corresponding 
translation has those 0 prefixes.

I simply have this piece of code in my search function:

// If the Strong's key is OT we need to insert a zero in front of the key
// This is necessary because the Sword modules with Strong's have a zero 
in front of the Hebrew Strong's numbers
if(searchTerm[0]== 'H'&& 
this->_textProcessor.moduleHasStrongsZeroPrefixes(module)) {
// Cut out the number from the Strong's key (starting at index 1 until 
end of string)
stringstrongsKey= searchTerm.substr(1, searchTerm.size());
// Overwrite the searchTerm with an inserted 0
searchTerm="H0"+strongsKey;
}

The helper function moduleHasStrongsZeroPrefixes simply searches for 
"strong:H0" in the markup of Genesis 1:1.

This approach has been working decently well for me.

Best regards,
Tobias

On 1/27/22 2:27 PM, Karl Kleinpaste wrote:
> I have a Xiphos bug <https://github.com/crosswire/xiphos/issues/1107> 
> in which the facility to take a Strong's dict entry and search the 
> Bible module for all its occurrences sometimes works and sometimes 
> doesn't.
>
> The mechanism is straightforward: Take the key from the dict pane, 
> note whether this is Heb or Grk, construct e.g. lemma:Hxxxxx, stuff 
> that into the sidebar search, and execute the search. No sweat.
>
> The problem is with Heb refs. Because of the ancient habit that Heb 
> Strong's refs are given a leading zero prefix (e.g. "07225") as a weak 
> discriminant from Grk refs in the same number space, I actually handle 
> this case explicitly. Strong's module keys are fixed, 5-digit strings, 
> and the dict pane always shows this. When that key is taken to build 
> the lemma search, I specifically include the last leading zero in the 
> Heb case.
>
> This works in KJV and ESV where we find "<w savlm="strong:H07225">In 
> the beginning</w>".
> This fails in NASB and OSHB where we find "<w savlm="strong:H7225">In 
> the beginning</w>".
> Note H07225 vs H7225.
>
> The question revolves around what a Strong's ref ontologically is. 
> Seriously, what is it?
> Is it a number, written naturally with minimal required digits, stored 
> for convenience in a character string?
> Or is it a specific and fixed string of characters?
>
> In terms of module keys, it's a string of characters.
> In terms of Bible markup, well... Opinion varies. As we see in this 
> case, some Bibles encode as a natural number, occupying the normal 
> (minimal) digits needed, but others take the fixed string approach so 
> as to include a leading zero, but note that it's not a full, fixed, 
> 5-digit string to match a dict key; it's just one leading zero, no 
> matter how many natural digits follow. KJV encodes the 1st Heb ref as 
> "01". Not "1" (natural number) and not "00001" (module key); just "01".
>
> Result is that, by constructing zero-prefixed searches, such searches 
> always fail in Bibles using natural/minimal digits because there's 
> never a zero-prefixed match.
>
> This is different from Grk refs, which are stored in dict modules the 
> same as Heb dict keys -- fixed 5-digit -- but are always marked up as 
> natural numbers using minimal digits.
>
> As matters stand, I have no /a priori/ means by which to determine 
> what to expect in a Bible's Heb Strong's markup. The dict pane's key 
> from which to construct the search is fixed 5 digits. That is at first 
> trimmed to natural, minimal digits...and then the trouble starts 
> because I don't have anything like a module conf directive to tell me 
> whether the module uses zero-prefixed Heb refs or not. I'm also not 
> aware that we have any standard for such markup to which I can point 
> to say, "NASB's markup is wrong because it lacks zero-prefixing on Heb 
> refs."
>
> Help.
>
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