APA to MLA commas

apa-to-mla.md

Convert from APA style commas to MLA

This is for all your writer friends: for the MLA or APA purist, why not introduce a little excitement to their day with a belated April fools prank?

Installation

Download the comma script and chmod +x comma to make it executable.

Usage

./comma help

You can pass input via STDIN:

echo "Bacon, eggs and toast." | ./comma

Or as a filename in the first argument. For example, if your cd'ed to the same directory:

./comma my-text-file.txt

Throw the comma command into your build scripts or any command your victim normally runs.

Watch mass chaos ensue, but you get to clean up the mess!

comma

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

usage = <<EOF
#====================================================
#--- APA => MLA -------------------------------------
#--- Convert APA commas to MLA, and vice versa ------
#--- Pass in STDIN, or a file as the argument -------
#====================================================
EOF

sample = <<EOF
Once upon a time: I had bacon, eggs and toast. Then I was sad, because there was no bacon.

Or toast, or eggs.

But then, behold! Bacon, eggs, and toast came hurrying to my plate to make me breakfast.
EOF

if ARGV[0] == "help"
  puts usage
  puts
  puts "Here's an example (run `echo | ./comma`):"
  puts "========================================="
  puts sample
  exit
end

apa = /((?:[^,.?!;:\n\r]+,)+(?:[^,.?!;:\n\r]+)) and ([^,.?!;:\n\r]+)/
mla = /((?:[^,.?!;:\n\r]+,)+(?:[^,.?!;:\n\r]+)), and ([^,.?!;:\n\r]+)/

string = ARGF.read
string = sample if string.chomp == ""

# Pick your poison
mla_ed = string.gsub(apa, '\1, an oxford comma, and \2')
# apa_ed = string.gsub(mla, '\1, no oxford comma and \2')

puts mla_ed