Backslashes Removed
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I have just observed that the backslashes have been removed from this post:
To see examples, search for C:
Could anyone tell me why, and help me to find out whether this has happened to other posts in this blog, or in others? This blog has several hundred posts, and probably a large majority have (or had) at least one occurrence of a backslash.
Thank you.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hello there,
Many thanks for reaching out.
I have just observed that the backslashes have been removed from this post:
To see examples, search for C:Can you direct me to a specific piece of content as to where this issue appears please?
For example, I see the content like the below with back slashes there:
Secure Boot had to be turned off in UEFI (a/k/a BIOS).
Many thanks.
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I did direct you to a specific piece of content. As I say, search for C:
In other words, search for paths on drive C. Simply take the step I suggested. It is the fastest way to find the specific piece of content you request.
You will see that the backslashes are missing from the C: path. That is the case for the first, second, third, and fourth occurrences you will encounter if you search for C:
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Your example offers forward slashes, not backslashes.
I guess, if it’s not obvious, using the first example, the text originally contained something like C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VirtualBox.exe, not the C:Program FilesOracleVirtualBoxVirtualBox.exe that now appears.
I say “something like” because I can’t be sure where the backslashes belong without manually checking the path.
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Hm, interesting.
This may be a problem with the Classic Editor, as that’s no longer being maintained.
It’s working properly under the new editor: https://d.pr/i/hsJV24
We have tips for transitioning from the classic editor to blocks https://wordpress.com/support/switching-from-the-classic-to-the-block-editor/ and FAQs: https://wordpress.com/support/replacing-the-older-wordpress-com-editor-with-the-wordpress-block-editor/#frequently-asked-questions
We also have some extensive documentation available at https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/
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The problem appears to be that the classic editor is removing the backslashes on publish, while the new editor is not.
The classic editor isn’t receiving further updates or fixes, so I can’t promise this will be fixed under the classic editor any time soon.
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With all due respect, your impression is incorrect. The classic editor is not removing backslashes. I publish multiple posts per week. I often review them. I never see this problem.
If that seems dubious, I encourage you to check some of my recent posts. Search within them, again, for references to C:. From what I see, the backslashes are there, where I put them.
No, unfortunately, the problem here seems to be more insidious. At some point after I completed that post, the backslashes disappeared.
My concern is that this may have happened with an unknown and potentially large number of posts. I have hundreds of posts; manual searching could take a while.
If possible, I would like to know when and why this is happening, in hopes that such information would help me identify any other posts that WordPress has corrupted.
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Correction: most of my recent posts are on Linux, which doesn’t use the backslash as much. Here are a couple of relatively recent Windows-related posts. As you’ll see with a search, the backslashes are there:
Types of VM Interloper: ISO, Physical or Virtual USB or CD Drive
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Hi there,
No, unfortunately, the problem here seems to be more insidious. At some point after I completed that post, the backslashes disappeared.
It does not appear to me that they disappeared at some random point. I looked at the edit history for your post, and it appears the
\character is stripped out during this specific revision:https://raywoodcockslatest.wordpress.com/wp-admin/revision.php?revision=12531
If I compare the previous version (red on the right) with the edited version that was saved at the end of that session (on the left) I can see the bits of text you added to your post of course. I can also see that backslashes were removed from some but not all places in the text in the process of saving that edit.
If possible, I would like to know when and why this is happening, in hopes that such information would help me identify any other posts that WordPress has corrupted.
Out of curiosity, do you ever find yourself switching between Visual and HTML (code) editors for any reason? The editor you use is not logged in revisions, but one issue with the classic editor (something that is fixed in the block editor) is that when you switch from HTML to visual, all code you added is ‘validated’ and in invalid HTML syntax is removed.
This is not always perfect, and it can be the case that non-HTML content is sanitized in the process as well, which is what I suspect here.
Given the type of content you post on your site, I can see this happening as some of those backslashes are mixed in with regular text and the syntax you use may work fine for windows but could be getting mistakenly flagged as invalid HTML. You can avoid this by writing posts entirely in the code editor (or the visual editor) and avoiding switching.
As well, you can avoid this by changing over to using the block editor for future posts. It does not suffer from this issue of switching editor states.
Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
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I salute your review of prior revisions. I’m always a little afraid to play with them. There’s no display of which two dates are being compared, so I don’t know exactly what they are showing me.
In mine, the red is on the left. I’m guessing your link shows the before and after at the stated date and time.
I switch between Visual and Text (what you call HTML or code) editors often. Sometimes it’s to do a global search and replace, pasting the entire post into a text editor and then back. Sometimes it’s to copy a literal (code) version of the text, in case the editor (or the browser, or WordPress) screws up and the most recent (or all of my) work vanishes. (It’s been a while since that last happened, but that sort of experience tends to teach an enduring lesson.) Most reliably, for any post with a list of contents, I switch into Text mode to insert HTML anchors at the desired locations.
So I think the switch between Visual and Text is probably not the explanation. If it were, I’d be seeing this backslash-stripping behavior with virtually all posts of any length.
If backslashes aren’t missing from many older posts, then I suspect the explanation is that this is one of the few posts where I made the mistake of using the block editor.
I’m not sure of the best characterization in fact, but my impression from limited experimentation is that the block editor taints a post, such that funky things happen to it thereafter. That may be the gist of the warning that pesters me whenever I revert to the classic after using the block editor. Or possibly the backslashes were stripped just because I wound up in the block editor by accident, on the stated date, and made the mistake of saving in the block editor instead of bailing out.
Regarding the option of switching to the block editor: I have been down that road.
The short version is that I switched from Blogger to WordPress when Google wrecked Blogger, as they had wrecked DejaNews and other things previously.
The imposition of the block editor here portended the arrival of a similar mentality at WP. You know — move fast and break things, or some comparable mantra. It always seems brilliant at the moment. But, you know, not everyone admires Mark Zuckerberg.
I did look into the block editor when it arrived. For my purposes, it represents a significant step backward. I don’t have time or interest in its learning curve, not to mention its foibles and points of inferiority for my purposes.
My conclusion was, rather, that I would have to abandon WordPress rather than use the block editor. One option would be to find another blogging platform. Another would be to just quit blogging. I am surely overdue to return to book-writing anyway. That would be the nudge that would make me do it. But as long as the classic editor workaround continues to function, I’m still here.
Thanks for taking the time.
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It occurs to me to ask: is it possible to generate a list of posts that would contain C: or D: but no backslashes? That might give me a head start on figuring out which other posts have this problem.
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Hello there,
I switch between Visual and Text (what you call HTML or code) editors often. Sometimes it’s to do a global search and replace, pasting the entire post into a text editor and then back…If backslashes aren’t missing from many older posts, then I suspect the explanation is that this is one of the few posts where I made the mistake of using the block editor.
Ok so this is probably going over old ground, but just to clarify with this new post, are you switching between the classic editor and the block editor? Or just between visual and text in the block editor?
If it’s the first option, it may explain this odd behaviour.
It’s quite an interesting workflow there which switching and doing searches and replaces like that. Curiously, why are you doing these searches and replaces?
I’m thinking we could perhaps help to streamline this and offer some guidance.
It occurs to me to ask: is it possible to generate a list of posts that would contain C: or D:
From the front, this can be searched for:
https://raywoodcockslatest.wordpress.com/?s=C%3A
https://raywoodcockslatest.wordpress.com/?s=D%3A
I hope this helps.
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I’m just switching between visual and text in the CLASSIC editor.
I do searches and replaces for the same reason as in a word processor — to make uniform changes throughout. So, for instance, if I find I’ve been referring to “Adobe” when I should have clarified it was “Adobe Acrobat,” I’ll make a global change for that. Or if I had the wrong URL, I’ll correct all instances of that URL at once in a text editor and then paste it back into WordPress.
Yes, if there’s that sort of functionality in WordPress, I’d like to hear about it.
Your search suggestion gets me halfway there. I’m sure many of my posts contain references to C: or D:. How about the ones that don’t contain any backslashes?
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Hello there,
Yes, if there’s that sort of functionality in WordPress, I’d like to hear about it.
Currently there’s no functionality that would do that.
I’m sure many of my posts contain references to C: or D:. How about the ones that don’t contain any backslashes?
You would need to somehow find a common denominator whereby they would appear in search results.
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