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"Position" function?

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    #1

    "Position" function?

    Maybe chalk this up to blindness or stupidity, but is there a "Position" or "Search" function in A5?

    By this, I mean a function which will search a string for a specified string and return the position at which it first occurs. I know that the contains function searches, but it returns a logical value, not the position.

    While this will be a fairly easy xbasic function to add, it seems like it should be a standard feature.
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE:

    position at which it first occurs
    There can be only one.

    Comment

      #3
      RE:

      Roy,

      The new Functions and Expressions book explains how the functions work. Finding the right one when you don't know what you're looking for can be problematic.

      Try the User's Guide instead. There's an overview with a listing by 'type' beginning at about pg 301.

      -- tom

      Comment

        #4
        RE:

        Roy

        page 14 of the Expression_Functions_Reference manual.

        The function is:

        at(SearchString,CharacterString,[Number])
        Al Buchholz
        Bookwood Systems, LTD
        Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

        Occam's Razor - KISS
        Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
        Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
        When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
        "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
        Albert Einstein

        http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

        Comment

          #5
          RE:

          Thanks Al. I guess I was trying to be too cute. Should I have posted:

          position at(SearchString,CharacterString,[Number]) which it first occurs

          ?
          There can be only one.

          Comment

            #6
            Position Function Unbound

            Well, I'll call it blindness then. :)

            In the interim, I wrote the position function from hell (I almost called if pfh ;)

            It accepts 5 arguments:
            LOOKIN - what to look in
            LOOKFOR - what to look for
            NTHOCCUR - which occurence to look for
            STARTFROM - start looking from L/R
            MEASUREFROM - measure position from L/R

            Let the parsing begin! (and the code improvements, no doubt)

            'Date Created: 02-Apr-2003 10:41:16 AM
            'Last Updated: 02-Apr-2003 11:09:46 AM
            'Created By : Roy Irby
            'Updated By :
            'Returns the of the Nth occurance of a string (LOOKFOR) within a string (LOOKIN)
            'starting from left or right (STARTFROM) and counted from left or right (MEASUREFROM)
            '
            FUNCTION POSFROM AS N (LOOKIN AS C, LOOKFOR AS C, NTHOCCUR AS N, STARTFROM AS C,MEASUREFROM AS C)
            ' first check the passed variables and see if the substring is present at all
            ' if the variables are invalid or the string is not present, skip to the end
            IF (STARTFROM "L" .AND. STARTFROM "R") .or. \
            (MEASUREFROM "L" .and. MEASUREFROM "R") .or. \
            OCCURS(LOOKFOR,LOOKIN)=0 then
            GOTO FOUND
            END IF
            ' setup the looping
            DIM I AS N, NUMFOUND AS N,START AS N, FINISH AS N, STEPBY AS N
            NUMFOUND=0
            POSFROM=0
            IF STARTFROM="L" THEN 'loop forward if STARTFROM = L(eft)
            START=1
            FINISH=LEN(LOOKIN)
            STEPBY=1
            ELSE
            START=LEN(LOOKIN) 'loop backward if STARTFROM = R(ight)
            FINISH=1
            STEPBY=-1
            END IF
            ' commence with the looping
            FOR I= START TO FINISH STEP STEPBY
            IF SUBSTR(LOOKIN,I,LEN(LOOKFOR))=LOOKFOR THEN
            POSFROM=I
            NUMFOUND=NUMFOUND+1
            IF NUMFOUND=NTHOCCUR THEN
            GOTO FOUND
            END IF
            END IF
            NEXT I
            FOUND:
            IF MEASUREFROM="R" THEN 'compensate if MEASUREFROM = R(ight)
            POSFROM=len(lookin)-POSFROM+1
            END IF
            END FUNCTION

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Position Function Unbound

              Man, how do you get the formating to look right on this board? ;)

              Comment

                #8
                RE:

                Stan

                no problem

                It took me a minute to get what you were driving AT!

                ;-)
                Al Buchholz
                Bookwood Systems, LTD
                Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

                Occam's Razor - KISS
                Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
                Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
                When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
                "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
                Albert Einstein

                http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Position Function Unbound

                  'Date Created: 02-Apr-2003 10:41:16 AM
                  'Last Updated: 02-Apr-2003 11:09:46 AM
                  'Created By : Roy Irby
                  'Updated By :
                  'Returns the of the Nth occurance of a string (LOOKFOR) within a string (LOOKIN)
                  'starting from left or right (STARTFROM) and counted from left or right (MEASUREFROM)
                  '
                  FUNCTION POSFROM AS N (LOOKIN AS C, LOOKFOR AS C, NTHOCCUR AS N, STARTFROM AS C,MEASUREFROM AS C)
                  ' first check the passed variables and see if the substring is present at all
                  ' if the variables are invalid or the string is not present, skip to the end
                  IF (STARTFROM "L" .AND. STARTFROM "R") .or. \
                  (MEASUREFROM "L" .and. MEASUREFROM "R") .or. \
                  OCCURS(LOOKFOR,LOOKIN)=0 then
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspGOTO FOUND
                  END IF
                  ' setup the looping
                  DIM I AS N, NUMFOUND AS N,START AS N, FINISH AS N, STEPBY AS N
                  NUMFOUND=0
                  POSFROM=0
                  IF STARTFROM="L" THEN 'loop forward if STARTFROM = L(eft)
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspSTART=1
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspFINISH=LEN(LOOKIN)
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspSTEPBY=1
                  ELSE
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspSTART=LEN(LOOKIN) 'loop backward if STARTFROM = R(ight)
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspFINISH=1
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspSTEPBY=-1
                  END IF
                  ' commence with the looping
                  FOR I= START TO FINISH STEP STEPBY
                  IF SUBSTR(LOOKIN,I,LEN(LOOKFOR))=LOOKFOR THEN
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspPOSFROM=I
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspNUMFOUND=NUMFOUND+1
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspIF NUMFOUND=NTHOCCUR THEN
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspGOTO FOUND
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspEND IF
                  END IF
                  NEXT I
                  FOUND:
                  IF MEASUREFROM="R" THEN 'compensate if MEASUREFROM = R(ight)
                  &nbsp&nbsp&nbspPOSFROM=len(lookin)-POSFROM+1
                  END IF
                  END FUNCTION
                  There can be only one.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    RE: Position Function Unbound

                    tnx Stan!

                    Comment

                      #11
                      RE: Position Function Unbound

                      Stan,

                      Alright, quit showing off. Now if you could mix in a few interesting colors here and there, and maybe bold face the looping structures...

                      -- tom

                      Comment

                        #12
                        RE: Position Function Unbound

                        I could, but Cal could do it better.

                        Have a good time at the conference. Try to keep Hanigsberg out of trouble this year.
                        There can be only one.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          RE: Position Function Unbound

                          Surround your Xbasic code in "PRE$gt; and "/PRE$gt; HTML tags. That forces your spacing, indentatuiopn and line breaks to be kept.

                          -Lenny

                          Lenny Forziati
                          Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
                          Alpha Software Corporation

                          Comment

                            #14
                            RE: Position Function Unbound

                            'Date Created: 02-Apr-2003 10:41:16 AM
                            'Last Updated: 02-Apr-2003 11:09:46 AM
                            'Created By : Roy Irby
                            'Updated By :
                            'Returns the of the Nth occurance of a string (LOOKFOR) within a string (LOOKIN)
                            'starting from left or right (STARTFROM) and counted from left or right (MEASUREFROM)
                            '
                            FUNCTION POSFROM AS N (LOOKIN AS C, LOOKFOR AS C, NTHOCCUR AS N, STARTFROM AS C,MEASUREFROM AS C)
                            ' first check the passed variables and see if the substring is present at all
                            ' if the variables are invalid or the string is not present, skip to the end
                            IF (STARTFROM "" "L" .AND. STARTFROM "" "R") .or. \
                            (MEASUREFROM "" "L" .and. MEASUREFROM "" "R") .or. \
                            OCCURS(LOOKFOR,LOOKIN)=0 then
                            GOTO FOUND
                            END IF
                            ' setup the looping
                            DIM I AS N, NUMFOUND AS N,START AS N, FINISH AS N, STEPBY AS N
                            NUMFOUND=0
                            POSFROM=0
                            IF STARTFROM= "L" THEN 'loop forward if STARTFROM = L(eft)
                            START=1
                            FINISH=LEN(LOOKIN)
                            STEPBY=1
                            ELSE
                            START=LEN(LOOKIN) 'loop backward if STARTFROM = R(ight)
                            FINISH=1
                            STEPBY=-1
                            END IF
                            ' commence with the looping
                            FOR I= START TO FINISH STEP STEPBY
                            IF SUBSTR(LOOKIN,I,LEN(LOOKFOR))=LOOKFOR THEN
                            POSFROM=I
                            NUMFOUND=NUMFOUND+1
                            IF NUMFOUND=NTHOCCUR THEN
                            GOTO FOUND
                            END IF
                            END IF
                            NEXT I
                            FOUND:
                            IF MEASUREFROM= "R" THEN 'compensate if MEASUREFROM = R(ight)
                            POSFROM=len(lookin)-POSFROM+1
                            END IF
                            END FUNCTION
                            There can be only one.

                            Comment

                              #15
                              RE: Position Function Unbound

                              Very pretty Stan. ;)

                              Comment

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