epub

epub is a node.js module to parse EPUB electronic book files.

NB! Only ebooks in UTF-8 are currently supported!.

Installation

npm install epub

Or, if you want a pure-JS version (useful if used in a Node-Webkit app for example):

npm install epub --no-optional

Usage

var EPub = require("epub");
var epub = new EPub(epubfile, imagewebroot, chapterwebroot);

Where

• epubfile is the file path to an EPUB file
• imagewebroot is the prefix for image URL's. If it's /images/ then the actual URL (inside chapter HTML <img> blocks) is going to be /images/IMG_ID/IMG_FILENAME, IMG_ID can be used to fetch the image form the ebook with getImage
• chapterwebroot is the prefix for chapter URL's. If it's /chapter/ then the actual URL (inside chapter HTML <a> links) is going to be /chapters/CHAPTER_ID/CHAPTER_FILENAME, CHAPTER_ID can be used to fetch the image form the ebook with getChapter

Before the contents of the ebook can be read, it must be opened (EPub is an EventEmitter).

epub.on("end", function(){
	// epub is now usable
	console.log(epub.metadata.title);

	epub.getChapter("chapter_id", function(err, text){});
});
epub.parse();

metadata

Property of the epub object that holds several metadata fields about the book.

epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.metadata;

Available fields:

• creator Author of the book (if multiple authors, then the first on the list) (Lewis Carroll)
• creatorFileAs Author name on file (Carroll, Lewis)
• title Title of the book (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
• language Language code (en or en-us etc.)
• subject Topic of the book (Fantasy)
• date creation of the file (2006-08-12)
• description

flow

flow is a property of the epub object and holds the actual list of chapters (TOC is just an indication and can link to a # url inside a chapter file)

epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.flow.forEach(function(chapter){
	console.log(chapter.id);
});

Chapter id is needed to load the chapters getChapter

toc

toc is a property of the epub object and indicates a list of titles/urls for the TOC. Actual chapter and it's ID needs to be detected with the href property

getChapter(chapter_id, callback)

Load chapter text from the ebook.

var epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.getChapter("chapter1", function(error, text){});

getChapterRaw(chapter_id, callback)

Load raw chapter text from the ebook.

getImage(image_id, callback)

Load image (as a Buffer value) from the ebook.

var epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.getImage("image1", function(error, img, mimeType){});

getFile(file_id, callback)

Load any file (as a Buffer value) from the ebook.

var epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.getFile("css1", function(error, data, mimeType){});