looking for a program to automatically split subtitles

[Syco54645]

hi
i am looking for a program to automatically split subtitles. that is to say that i have a sub that is multiple lines, but when i move it to dvd it doesnt fit on the screen unless the font is very small. is there a program that can automatically adjust a sub file so that there is only x amount of characters on each line? i dont care what format of subtitles the program is for as any will do for me.

thanks

-Syco54645

[borax]

So you would like to have a sub file with a new 'layout'?

I don't think that there is any program around for this specific purpose. But it can probably be done with any word processing program (like ms word) that has advanced search&replace features.
A (microdvd type) .sub file has usually this structure:
{startframe}{endframe}Text
{startframe}{endframe}Text2
The 'carriage return' code is: |

A guide to do it with MS word (I have only a german version, therefore some translations may be incorrect):

1. Search for }{ and replace with @ (or any other character that is 100% not used within your sub file)
2. Search for } and replace with }#^t (the ^t is the code for a tab, the # has to be another unique char like the @ in step 1)
3. Search for | and replace with ' ' (just a blank space char without the quotes) to get rid of the old line breaks if any
4. Format all the text with the same font that will be used for authoring.
5. Mark all the text and use the 'convert text to table' feature with default settings (2 columns, split text at tabs)
6. Format the second column with the texts as 'narrow' as you like. But be careful, I'm not sure how many lines (3 or 4?) are allowed...
7. Save the document as 'text only' and select the option 'Include linebreaks'
8. Close the doc and reopen the just saved text only version
9. Search for ^p and replace with | (the ^p is the code for a carriage return)
10. Search for |{ replace with ^p{
11. Search for }#| replace with }
12. Search for @ replace with }{

Save the new sub file
This may sound very complicated, but in fact it can be done within some minutes...

[Josef Kneht]

try to have a look here
http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=49