I have a database (Zotero). It was created and is still frequently used in Windows. (No choice.) It contains links to PDFs (e.g., c:\data\file.pdf). I also access it in Linux, under Linux, on the same system (dual boot). The Windows directory c:\data\ is /mnt/ntfs/data/ in Linux. When the string c:\data\ appears in the database in Linux, I want Linux to translate that to /mnt/ntfs/data/. Then, in Linux, I would be able to open the linked PDFs. Thx kraml.

It depends on how you receive the data in Linux.

In other words, are you using a shell script to access the database? Are you using a program to access the database? Are you seeing database information through a PHP/ASP web page on an internal web site?

If you are accessing the information in a shell script, then this command will translate it for you (which you will have to incorporate into your script):
If you are accessing the database info through a program, then you need to modify the program to do the substitution.

If you are accessing it through an internal web site, you'll probably need to have the web site query what browser/operating system you are using, and then do the conversion.

In a nutshell, there is no "global" search-and-replace in Linux. If you need to transform data from A to B, you need to modify it at the point the data is received.

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I am accessing the data from within the GUI of the program that creates the database, Zotero (standalone; http://www.zotero.org). I'm not sure I have the skill to penetrate the actual database (MySQL, I think) to see the exact form of the link as it appears in the fields that call linked PDFs. I am also only basically familiar with the inner workings of Linux. If I can create a shell script to start the program, can I (theoretically) set a variable to accomplish what I want for that session, assuming that I can discover the form/string that appears in the PDF link field?

I am going to guess that the answer is no, having re-read your response, and assuming that there are probably many different ways in which Zotero could be making the call to location-x, even if I did know what text string to substitute.

I doubt it... at least, not in the way I think you are looking at it.


I don't use Zotero, but based on the page you linked to, Zotero provides a plugin for Firefox. That means the "C:\data\file.pdf" path you are getting is likely embedded as part of a hyperlink. In other words, the page presents you with a link to click on that directs you to the desired PDF.

EDIT:
Your message said that you access it through the GUI used to create the database. I didn't see that on the brief scan of the web site that I made. As an alternative, you might try accessing it with their plugin through Firefox if option #4 seems promising to you.
/EDIT

Assuming that is true, I think you have four options:

1. Modify the plugin itself to convert the path for your particular workstation/computer. This isn't likely because I didn't see any indication that the plugin is open source.

2. Modify the web page that presents the link. I don't know if the web page is available to you or not. I don't know if it's a Zotero-supplied page or an internal web page developed by someone at your company/university/group. If it's a Zotero-supplied page, you probably can't change it here either. If it's an internally-developed web page, you can contact your internal IT staff to see if it's possible for them to do something like I mentioned earlier: change the page to identify what OS/browser you are using and adjust the link path accordingly.

3. Set up a proxy on the linux box. Essentially what happens is, you connect to the local linux box and make a request, the local linux box forwards your request to the server you would normally use, the linux box gets the HTML response, modifies the HTML code whenever it sees the "C:\data\" pattern in a link, and then presents it to your copy of Firefox. This is a very involved process. I would not recommend it except as a last resort--especially for something like this.

4. Search for and/or write a Firefox extension that will modify the links for you. I have seen Firefox plugins that alter the HTML code presented to the user. I do not remember one specifically matching your needs, but there may be one available. There may also be a way to do the substitution through Firefox preferences directly. You'll likely have to do some serious searching.

Lastly, if you haven't already done so, I would suggest posting a message in the Zotero Forums. They would probably be more helpful in pointing you toward what you need.

EDIT2:
I did a little digging and found this page on StackOverflow. It points out that the Greasemonkey addon for Firefox can do HTML manipulation using Javascript. Furthermore, there is a collection of pre-written scripts available at Userscripts. It may be worth a look to see if there are any scripts that might be close enough to what you want so that you can modify it easily.

EDIT3:
Last edit... I did a quick search for "modify link target" at userscripts, and found this entry that looks spot-on for the kind of thing you need.

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Thank you very much, Dark_Helmet, for your kind and detailed responses. I will ponder these and research further at the links you have provided! kraml