Usage

For the end user several scripts are provided to use from the command line:

$ to_isbn10 ISBN13

transforms an ISBN13 number to ISBN10.

$ to_isbn13 ISBN10

transforms an ISBN10 number to ISBN13.

$ isbn_info ISBN

gives you the group identifier of the ISBN.

$ isbn_mask ISBN

masks (hyphenate) an ISBN (split it by identifiers).

$ isbn_meta ISBN [wcat|goob|openl|isbndb|merge] [bibtex|...] [YOUR_APIKEY_TO_SERVICE]

gives you the main metadata associated with the ISBN, wcat uses worldcat.org (no key is needed), goob uses the Google Books service (no key is needed), isbndb uses the isbndb.com service (an api key is needed), openl uses the OpenLibrary.org api (no key is needed), merge uses a merged record of wcat and goob records (no key is needed) and is the default option (you only have to enter, e.g. isbn_meta 9780321534965). You can get an API key for the isbndb.com service here. You can enter API keys and set preferences in the file isbntools.conf in your $HOME\.isbntools directory (UNIX). For Windows, you should look at %APPDATA%/isbntools/isbntools.conf. The output can be formatted as bibtex, msword, endnote, refworks, opf or json (BibJSON) bibliographic formats.

$ isbn_editions ISBN

gives the collection of ISBNs that represent a given book (uses Open Library and LibraryThing).

$ isbn_validate ISBN

validates ISBN10 and ISBN13.

$ ... | isbn_stdin_validate

to use with posix pipes (e.g. cat FILE_WITH_ISBNs | isbn_stdin_validate).

TIP Suppose you want to extract the ISBN of a pdf eboook (MYEBOOK.pdf). Install pdfminer and then enter in a command line:

$ pdf2txt.py -m 5 MYEBOOK.pdf | isbn_stdin_validate

$ isbn_from_words "words from title and author name"

a fuzzy script that returns the most probable ISBN from a set of words! (You can verify the result with isbn_meta)!

$ isbn_goom "words from title and author name" [bibtex|opf|msword|endnote|refworks|json]

a script that returns from Google Books multiple references.

$ isbn_doi ISBN

returns the doi’s ISBN-A code of a given ISBN.

$ isbn_ean13 ISBN

returns the EAN13 code of a given ISBN.

$ isbn_ren FILENAME

renames (using metadata) files in the current directory that have ISBNs in their filename (e.g. isbn_ren 1783559284_book.epub, isbn_ren "*.pdf").

Enter isbn_ren to see many other options.

$ isbntools

writes version and copyright notice and checks if there are updates.

With

$ isbn_repl

you will get a REPL with history, autocompletion, fuzzy options, redirection and access to the shell.

Following is a typical session:

$ isbn_repl

    Welcome to the isbntools 4.2.2 REPL.
    ** For help type 'help' or '?'
    ** To exit type 'exit' :)
    ** To run a shell command, type '!<shellcmnd>'
    ** Use '#' in place of the last ISBN

$ isbn> ?

Commands available (type ?<command> to get help):
-------------------------------------------------
BIBFORMATS  audit  desc     editions    goom  mask   to_isbn10
ean13       conf   doi      exit        help  meta   to_isbn13
PROVIDERS   cover  doi2tex  from_words  info  shell  validate

$ isbn> meta 9780156001311 tex
@book{9780156001311,
     title = {The Name Of The Rose},
    author = {Umberto Eco},
      isbn = {9780156001311},
      year = {1994},
 publisher = {Harcourt Brace}
}
$ isbn> meta 9780156001311 tex >>myreferences.bib
$ isbn> !ls
myreferences.bib
$ isbn> desc #
It is the year 1327. Franciscans in an Italian abbey are suspected of
heresy, but Brother William of Baskerville’s investigation is suddenly
overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen
and Kurt Wolff Book
$ isbn> cover #
     thumbnail:  http://books.google.com/books/content?id=PVVyuD1UY1wC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1
smallThumbnail:  http://books.google.com/books/content?id=PVVyuD1UY1wC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=5
$ isbn> exit
bye

Within REPL many of the operations are faster.

Many more scripts could be written with the isbntools library, using the methods for extraction, cleaning, validation and standardization of ISBNs.

Just for fun, suppose I want the most spoken about book with certain words in his title. For a quick-and-dirty solution, enter the following code in a file and save it as isbn_tmsa_book.py.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
from isbntools import *

query = sys.argv[1].replace(' ', '+')
isbn = isbn_from_words(query)

print("The ISBN of the most `spoken-about` book with this title is %s" % isbn)
print("")
print("... and the book is:")
print("")
print((meta(isbn)))

Then in a command line (in the same directory):

$ python isbn_tmsa_book.py 'noise'

In my case I get:

The ISBN of the most `spoken-about` book with this title is 9780143105985

... and the book is:

{'Publisher': u'Penguin Books', 'Language': u'eng', 'Title': u'White noise',
'Year': u'2009', 'ISBN-13': u'9780143105985', 'Authors': u'Don DeLillo ;
introduction by Richard Powers.'}

Have fun!