Using semi colons as a delimiter for xlf files

Question

Hi all - 
 I recently recevied an .xlf source file that needed translating. 
 There are many semi colons used within the file to separate values but when importing into Trados, the semi colon isn't being used as a delimiter to separate the text out into different segments, and I want it to be. 
 (This of course would make it easier for our translators to read, and means that we can update our translation memories with shorter strings that make sense. Once the file has been translated, the target translation would then need to put things back in the same format in which we received the file.) 
 I tried creating a rule in Trados (2019) but didn't have any luck. Has anyone created a rule like this before and had it work? I had opened the Translation Memory that I was going to use, and went to Language Resources > Segmentation Rules > Edit. I added a new rule based on an existing one but it still didn't work and I'm wondering if there is something obvious I'm missing. 
 Thanks!

Paul · Answer

Rachel Robcke 
 Rachel Robcke said: I'm wondering if there is something obvious I'm missing. 
 We'll never know unless you tell us exactly what you did and how you did it? Maybe you did it right but missed a step; maybe you did it wrong... share the steps, and the rules you used.

Paul · Answer

Rachel Robcke ok - so I created an XLIFF 1.2 sample like this:

simple xliff

Apple; Banana; Cherry; Date; Elderberry; Fig; Grapefruit; Honeydew; Indian plum; Jackfruit; Kiwi; Lemon; Mango; Nectarine; Orange; Papaya; Quince; Raspberry; Strawberry; Tangerine; Ugli fruit; Valencia orange; Watermelon; Xigua; Yellow passionfruit; Zucchini (also a fruit, botanically).

1967 Shelby GT500; 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air; 1961 Jaguar E-Type; 1963 Aston Martin DB5; 1957 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing; 1964 Porsche 911; 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB; 1969 Dodge Charger; 1955 Ford Thunderbird; 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray; 1968 Lamborghini Miura; 1965 Ford Mustang; 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL; 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz; 1967 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto.

Affenpinscher; Azawakh; Bolognese; Chinook; Dogo Argentino; Finnish Spitz; Glen of Imaal Terrier; Hovawart; Kai Ken; Lagotto Romagnolo; Mudi; Norwegian Lundehund; Otterhound; Peruvian Inca Orchid; Portuguese Podengo Pequeno; Russian Toy; Schipperke; Thai Ridgeback; Utonagan; Volpino Italiano; Wirehaired Vizsla; Xoloitzcuintli; Yakutian Laika; Zuchon.

Great white shark; tiger shark; bull shark; hammerhead shark; blue shark; mako shark; nurse shark; lemon shark; blacktip shark; Caribbean reef shark; zebra shark; whale shark; basking shark; thresher shark; grey reef shark; sand tiger shark; spiny dogfish; porbeagle shark; white-tip reef shark; wobbegong; goblin shark; cookie-cutter shark; silky shark; Galapagos shark; angel shark.

I used this rule: This results in this: So the theory seems to work. Your rule is different to mine... but perhaps your source file is formatted differently. So a few questions: please provide a small example of how your file is formatted if you provide a complete file we will be able to see if it's XLIFF 1.2 or 2.0, but if you don't then which XLIFF is it? did you make the changes to your TM before you opened the file in a new project or after the project was already created? are you sure you are opening the file against the TM you create the rules for? Also, for interest... you may also be able to solve this even more easily by using the embedded content processor. So I created a placeholder rule like this and set it to "Exclude" in the advanced settings: This results in an even cleaner and easier approach for my sample file:

Paul · Answer

Rachel Robcke 
 Just use the insert menu and copy paste the code in there:

Paul · Answer

Rachel Robcke 
 Rachel Robcke said: I made sure I set it to 'Exclude' in advanced settings and created a new project (using the same sample file I will send you) and the values weren't separated but the colons are now highlighted in purple (they weren't previously) 
 This definitely suggests you have not set them to exclude as they have been included. 
 Rachel Robcke said: I notice that you have a couple of extra options in your screen that I don't have; you have some radio buttons here and I don't...not sure if that causes any issues: 
 Just means you have an old version of Studio. What version are you using?

Paul · Answer

Rachel Robcke Thanks for sharing the file. The problem you have is that your client has actually specified the segmentation for this file which means the rules are in the file and with the XLIFF filetype there is no way round it. If the file didn't have these it would be fine: < seg-source > < mrk mtype = " seg " mid = " 1 " > Secondary Account Owner;Company Admin;Product User;Team Manager;Account Owner For example, this works perfectly:

Access learning content Values are seperated by ";" please don't remove ; while translating. Please don't remove html tag and attribute in curly braces ({data}) while translating

Secondary Account Owner;Company Admin;Product User;Team Manager;Account Owner Values are seperated by ";" please don't remove ; while translating. Please don't remove html tag and attribute in curly braces ({data}) while translating

Account Owner;The Account Owner is the primary admin of the account. They have access to all permissions.;An account owner transfer request has been sent to;Once they accept the role, you will be converted to a Secondary Account Owner.;Choose a user to replace you as the Primary Account Owner. Once the transfer is complete, you will be converted to a Secondary Account Owner.;Transfer to;Transfer Initiated;Cancel Transfer;Transfer account ownership;you;Already, {name} {email} is a Primary Account Owner;A Primary Account Owner cannot be added as a Secondary Account Owner;Refresh Values are seperated by ";" please don't remove ; while translating. Please don't remove html tag and attribute in curly braces ({data}) while translating

Given there no target values, and you are using 2019 rather than 2022, I can suggest a workaround like this: open the XLIFF in Studio and copy source to target. Save the target file create a new XML filetype for the XLIFF that only extracts the target element use a similar rule on the semi-colon open the XLIFF from 2. with the new XML filetype translate and save target This time you should be able to translate the file, properly segmented by avoiding the XLIFF filetype and using the XML filetype instead.

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Using semi colons as a delimiter for xlf files