Help with WORD()

[Mike Wilson]

The docs state this:

Character Output_String = WORD( Input_String as C, Word_Number as N [, Word_Delimiter as C [, Word_Count as N ]] )

I can usually figure out the parameters from the docs and testing, but I can't get this one.

? word("now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the country",2,"time",3)
= " for all good men to come to the aid of the country"?

word("now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the country",4,"time",3)
= ""

I am having problems understanding what the second parameter qualifies. Any help is appreciated.

Mike W

[Tim Kiebert]

Re: Help with WORD()

Mike, This page includes explanation. Where in the docs were you looking?

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Help with WORD()

Tim,

Thanks for responding. That is where I was looking. But I can't figure it out I guess I need some more prosaic ( wordy ) explanation of what the second parameter is supposed to contribute because I can't figure it out with the DOCs and many IW tries to sort it out.

Mike W

[Tim Kiebert]

Re: Help with WORD()

Output_String = WORD( Input_String as C, Word_Number as N [, Word_Delimiter as C [, Word_Count as N ]] )

I'll try.

The word function takes the string (Input_String) and divides it up into seperate 'words' (little pieces of the original) using the Word_Delimiter as the dividing point. The Word_Number together with the Word _count tells the function which bits of the original you want. If you set Word_Number to 2 and don't use Word_Count you will get the second piece. If you set Word_Number to 2 and set Word_Count to 3 you will get the three pieces ('words') starting with the second 'word'. If you set Word_Number to -2 then you will get the second last piece.

? word("now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the country",2,"time",3)
= " for all good men to come to the aid of the country"?

In your example you are telling the function to use "Time' as the delimiter.
This gives you two pieces "now is the " and " for all good men to come to the aid of the country"

You then tell it to give you three pieces starting at the second piece.

The second piece is " for all good men to come to the aid of the country". And there aren't any more so that is all you get.

Follow?

[brett s]

Re: Help with WORD()

It depends what you want to achieve of course. In normal instances the word delimiter is a space character, " ". I cannot work out what using "time" as a delimiter would produce by way of a meaningful result. If you want to locate the occurrence of one string in another you should perhaps use another function such as atc().

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Help with WORD()

Tim/Brett,

Thanks, I believe I understand it better, now. Although, it still doesn't make sense that the delimiter, which seems to mark the end of the WORD string is included in the string UNLESS it delimits the last string requested, then it is not included.

Mike W

[G Gabriel]

Re: Help with WORD()

Mike:
I am not sure if you are doing this deliberately or by mistake. If deliberately, it's rather an innovative way for the use of word() and it is doing what you are telling it to do:

In your example, you are using a word as a separator. That's rather unusual. Typically, a separator would be a comma, a space, a semicolon etc. But nonetheless alpha obliged:

dim x as c
x="now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"
?word(x,2,"time",2)
= " for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"

alpha treated each block of characters between "time" as a word.
You are asking alpha to extract the second & third words. It did.
The first word after the separator is:
for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time
The second:
will tell

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Help with WORD()

If

alpha treated each block of characters between "time" as a word

then "time" could never appear in the output.

"now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"

Separators in red, possible words in blue.

[G Gabriel]

Re: Help with WORD()

Stan:
No different than if you'd used any other separator...

x="now is the, time for all, good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"
?word(x,2,",",2)
= " time for all, good men to come to the aid of the country"

x="now is the; time for all; good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"
?word(x,2,";",2)
= " time for all; good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"

The name word() is misleading. alpha treats all blocks of charachters between the separator as one word. When you choose more than one word, the separator is included in the output.
Didn't you read that in the help file!

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Help with WORD()

Gabriel,

The name word() is misleading. alpha treats all blocks of charachters between the separator as one word. When you choose more than one word, the separator is included in the output.
Didn't you read that in the help file!

x="now is the time, of all time, for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"
?word(x,2,"time",2)
= ", of all time, for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for "

I agree with you the use of WORD is misleading. Tim and your descriptions certainly more understandable than the description in the docs. I guess a nuance of the code is that while the code has nothing but 2 in the command, if what you wrote (in red) was true, then "time" should be included 2 times. Yet only 1 "time" is contained in the output. None-the-less, I understand the nuance of the function now and can make due as needed. Thanks for you help.

Mike W

[CALocklin]

Re: Help with WORD()

A real world example of using different delimiters may help:

tlist = table.external_record_content_get("tablename","ID+' -- '+trim(Address)+' -- '+trim(city)","ID")

would return a multiline crlf string something like this
1234 -- 123 First St. -- St. Louis
2345 -- PO Box 3456 -- San Francisco
3456 -- 987 Pontiac Trail; suite 34 -- Detroit

Now, you can get specific lines such as retrieving line 2 with:
this_line = word( tlist, 2, crlf())
where the delimiter is the crlf at the end of each line.
The result would be:
2345 -- PO Box 3456 -- San Francisco

Then get the address on line 2 with:
address = word( this_line, 2, " -- " )
The result would be:
PO Box 3456

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Help with WORD()

Cal,
Thanks, and yes.. having come to learn the use of Word() I sent this morning an answer to Andy Meer in the following thread that used the same approach that you just gave as an example.

http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...ad.php?t=64142

I had a little trouble with the crlf() delimiter so I converted it to commas (now seeing this unnecessary).

Cal, do you know how to dim the multi-select Xdialog variable so the List Box appears unselected. I read a thread you posted back in 2003 that Dr. Wayne answered your question regarding converting the variable into a non-session variable, but I'm thinking there must be a simple method to cancel out the Xdialog selection variable so the dialog returns a FRESH list, unhighlighted.

Mike W

[G Gabriel]

Re: Help with WORD()

Mike:

Yet only 1 "time" is contained in the output

Speaking of nauance:
If you ask for one word, alpha gives you the one between the separators. If you ask for more than one, in your example 2, alpha gives you the first one, the separator & the second one. Hence, the separator appeared once.

Ask for three, and the separator will appear twice, as in:
dim x as c
x="now is the time, of all time, for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"
?word(x,2,"time",3)
= ", of all time, for all good men to come to the aid of the country, for time will tell"

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Help with WORD()

Gabriel,

gives you the one between the separators

Excellent! Yes, the key concept (of which seemed to be totally escaping me) being BETWEEN! Thanks.

Mike W

[CALocklin]

Re: Help with WORD()

Re: how to dim the multi-select Xdialog variable so the List Box appears unselected

I guess I'm not really sure I understand the question. If the choice variable is empty to start with, I don't believe anything should appear selected.

I'm not sure this is what you are talking about but here's what I would do.

input_list = <<%list%
1234 -- 123 First St. -- St. Louis
2345 -- PO Box 3456 -- San Francisco
3456 -- 987 Pontiac Trail; suite 34 -- Detroit
%list%
 
dlg_text = <<%dlg%
{ysize=.3}{units=F}{sp};
{font=ms sans serif,8,b}Select Addresses:{font=ms sans serif,8,n};
[%m%.50,5chc^#input_list];
{line=1,0};
<*15OK> <15Cancel>
%dlg%
 
DIM dlg_result as C
dlg_result = ui_dlg_box( "", dlg_text)