Visual Basic, Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

John Blackthorn
#1 / 6

Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

Greetings...

Does anyone know of a Visual Basic function, or has coded a function
that will extract a word from a string, that has the ability to use a
Delimiter Character?

Or perhaps they know how to remove the 'month' portion of a 'date'?
I'm looking at having a variable which is the type: date. To which, I
want to be able to extract the 'day' portion, 'month' and 'year'
portions.

The ultimate purpose is I want to determine the difference in days,
months, and years of two dates.

But to get back to my search for an extracting function...

Such as:
If anyone is familiar with TinyMush, there is a function called
Extract(), where given a list of words, we can do something like this:

Syntax:
Extract(List of words,starting position,number of words,[delimiter
character])

Examples:
Extract("This is a sentence.", 2, 2) = "is a"
Where it would extract the second word and pull out the next word,
where the delimiter character is by default a space.

Extract("This is a sentence.", 1,1) = "This"

But, as I stated before, I'm looking for something that handles
delimiter characters...

Extract("This|is|a|sentence",1,2,|) = "This|is"

If anyone knows of a function that will allow me to do this...or even
better, a function that allows me to extract the day/month/year of a
date...or even...is able to determine the difference (and be able to
handle leap years) between two dates...I would love to hear from you...

Or perhaps we can discuss how to code this 'Extract()' function of
mine...

Cajun Nights Mush /> Who Wants to Live Forever?
Cajun.Targonia.com 7373 /< ICQ:13682963

[\\\\\\\\\\(O):::<======================================-

BourbonStreet/1373/ \> John "Imagicka"
Blackthorne.

Wed, 18 Jun 1902 08:00:00 GMT

Ian
#2 / 6

Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

Hi John

Does this do what you want?

Function GetYMD(StartDate As String, _
Optional EndDate As String = "", _
Optional FutureDateText As String = " remaining.") As String

'*********************************************************
'* *
'* Parameters: *
'* StartDate - required *
'* *
'* EndDate - Optional, defaults to the current date *
'* *
'* Returns: *
'* *
'* The Years, Months & Days as a formatted string *
'* *
'*********************************************************

Dim Years As Integer
Dim Months As Integer
Dim Days As Integer
Dim IsFuture As Boolean
If Not IsDate(StartDate) Then
GetYMD = "Start date is invalid"
Exit Function
End If
If Len(EndDate) = 0 Then
EndDate = Date
Else
If Not IsDate(EndDate) Then
GetYMD = "End date is invalid"
Exit Function
End If
End If
If CDate(StartDate) > CDate(EndDate) Then
Dim tmpDate As String
tmpDate = EndDate
EndDate = StartDate
StartDate = tmpDate
IsFuture = True
End If
Years = Year(EndDate) - Year(StartDate)
Months = Month(EndDate) - Month(StartDate)
Days = Day(EndDate) - Day(StartDate)
If Days < 0 Then
Months = Months - 1
Days = Day(DateSerial(Year(StartDate), Month(StartDate) + 1, 0)) + Days
End If
If Months < 0 Then
Years = Years - 1
Months = 12 + Months
End If
GetYMD = IIf(Years = 0, "", _
IIf(Years = 1, Years & " year ", Years & " years ")) _
& IIf(Months = 0, "", _
IIf(Months = 1, Months & " month ", Months & " months ")) _
& IIf(Days = 0, "", _
IIf(Days = 1, Days & " day", Days & " days")) _
& IIf(IsFuture, FutureDateText, "")
End Function

Or maybe one of these

Function GetDHMSFromDates(StartDateTime As Date, _
EndDateTime As Date, _
Optional ShowDays As Boolean = True, _
Optional ReturnAsString As Boolean = True) As Variant
Dim tStr As String
Dim Retval(1 To 4) As Long
tStr = Format(DateDiff("s", StartDateTime, EndDateTime) / 86400, _
"dd mm yyyy hh:nn:ss")
If ShowDays Then
Retval(1) = DateDiff("d", #12:00:00 AM#, tStr)
Retval(2) = Hour(tStr)
Else
Retval(2) = DateDiff("h", #12:00:00 AM#, tStr)
End If
Retval(3) = Minute(tStr)
Retval(4) = Second(tStr)
If ReturnAsString Then
If ShowDays Then
tStr = Retval(1) & " days " & Retval(2) _
& " hours " & Retval(3) & " minutes " & Retval(4) & " seconds"
Else
tStr = Retval(2) & " hours " & Retval(3) & " minutes " _
& Retval(4) & " seconds"
End If
GetDHMSFromDates = tStr
Else
GetDHMSFromDates = Retval()
End If
End Function

Function GetDHMSFromNumber(NumMinSec As Double, _
Optional AsSeconds As Boolean = True, _
Optional ShowDays As Boolean = True, _
Optional ReturnAsString As Boolean = True) As Variant
Dim tStr As String
Dim dblDate As Double
Dim Retval(1 To 4) As Long
If AsSeconds Then
dblDate = NumMinSec / 86400
Else
dblDate = NumMinSec / 1440
End If
tStr = Format(dblDate, _
"dd mm yyyy hh:nn:ss")
If ShowDays Then
Retval(1) = DateDiff("d", #12:00:00 AM#, tStr)
Retval(2) = Hour(tStr)
Else
Retval(2) = DateDiff("h", #12:00:00 AM#, tStr)
End If
Retval(3) = Minute(tStr)
Retval(4) = Second(tStr)
If ReturnAsString Then
If ShowDays Then
tStr = Retval(1) & " days " & Retval(2) _
& " hours " & Retval(3) & " minutes " & Retval(4) & " seconds"
Else
tStr = Retval(2) & " hours " & Retval(3) & " minutes " _
& Retval(4) & " seconds"
End If
GetDHMSFromNumber = tStr
Else
GetDHMSFromNumber = Retval()
End If
End Function

regards

Ian

** invalid email address, change dk to denmark

homepage http://www.kingsoft-denmark.com/
Tips & Tricks page http://tips.kingsoft-denmark.com/

Quote:

> Greetings...

> Does anyone know of a Visual Basic function, or has coded a function
> that will extract a word from a string, that has the ability to use a
> Delimiter Character?

> Or perhaps they know how to remove the 'month' portion of a 'date'?
> I'm looking at having a variable which is the type: date. To which, I
> want to be able to extract the 'day' portion, 'month' and 'year'
> portions.

> The ultimate purpose is I want to determine the difference in days,
> months, and years of two dates.

> But to get back to my search for an extracting function...

> Such as:
> If anyone is familiar with TinyMush, there is a function called
> Extract(), where given a list of words, we can do something like this:

> Syntax:
> Extract(List of words,starting position,number of words,[delimiter
> character])

> Examples:
> Extract("This is a sentence.", 2, 2) = "is a"
> Where it would extract the second word and pull out the next word,
> where the delimiter character is by default a space.

> Extract("This is a sentence.", 1,1) = "This"

> But, as I stated before, I'm looking for something that handles
> delimiter characters...

> Extract("This|is|a|sentence",1,2,|) = "This|is"

> If anyone knows of a function that will allow me to do this...or even
> better, a function that allows me to extract the day/month/year of a
> date...or even...is able to determine the difference (and be able to
> handle leap years) between two dates...I would love to hear from you...

> Or perhaps we can discuss how to code this 'Extract()' function of
> mine...

> Cajun Nights Mush /> Who Wants to Live Forever?
> Cajun.Targonia.com 7373 /< ICQ:13682963

> [\\\\\\\\\\(O):::<======================================-

> BourbonStreet/1373/ \> John "Imagicka"
> Blackthorne.

Wed, 18 Jun 1902 08:00:00 GMT

Bob Butle
#3 / 6

Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

Quote:

> Does anyone know of a Visual Basic function, or has coded a function
> that will extract a word from a string, that has the ability to use a
> Delimiter Character?

Look at Instr, InstrRev, Left$, Mid$, Right$, Split, Join and StrReverse

Quote:

> Or perhaps they know how to remove the 'month' portion of a 'date'?
> I'm looking at having a variable which is the type: date. To which, I
> want to be able to extract the 'day' portion, 'month' and 'year'
> portions.

Look at the Day, Month and Year functioncd

Quote:

> The ultimate purpose is I want to determine the difference in days,
> months, and years of two dates.

Look at DateDiff and DateAdd

<cut>

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Please reply via the newsgroup only

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Before you buy.

Wed, 18 Jun 1902 08:00:00 GMT

Joseph Janda
#4 / 6

Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

John,

Here's a function that does exactly what you are describing in the
beginning of your message.
Function Scan(Text_Str, n, delim As String)
' Module: Scan
' Function: Returns the nth word from a string of characters. The words
' are separated by a character.
'
' Author: Joseph Jandal
' Initial:02/09/94
' Parms:
' 1. Text_Str: an input parameter holding a line of text
' 2. n: an input paramter holding the relative position of the word
in the text
' 3. the delimiter
' Mods:
' Date Comments
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
'This function returns the nth non-blank word from a string of chars.

Dim words, Tlen, delpos, WordLen As Integer
Dim Word, F_Str As String
On Error GoTo ErrScan
Scan = ""
F_Str = Trim$(Text_Str) 'trim leading blanks
Tlen = Len(F_Str)
If n <= 0 Or Tlen = 0 Then Exit Function
For words = 1 To n
Scan = ""
If Tlen = 0 Then Exit Function
delpos = InStr(1, F_Str, delim) 'Find next space.
If delpos > 0 Then
Word = Left(F_Str, delpos - 1) 'Return word
Else
Word = F_Str 'Return word
End If
Scan = Word
If words = n Then
'MsgBox F_Str & " Scan returned word" & n & "=" & Word
Exit Function
End If
'If words = 18 Then MsgBox "Before LTRIM String=" & F_Str
If delpos > 0 Then
F_Str = Mid(F_Str, delpos + 1)
Else: F_Str = ""
End If
Tlen = Len(F_Str)
Next words
Exit Function
ErrScan:
Debug.Print Error(Err)
End Function

Quote:

> Greetings...

> Does anyone know of a Visual Basic function, or has coded a function
> that will extract a word from a string, that has the ability to use a
> Delimiter Character?

> Or perhaps they know how to remove the 'month' portion of a 'date'?
> I'm looking at having a variable which is the type: date. To which, I
> want to be able to extract the 'day' portion, 'month' and 'year'
> portions.

> The ultimate purpose is I want to determine the difference in days,
> months, and years of two dates.

> But to get back to my search for an extracting function...

> Such as:
> If anyone is familiar with TinyMush, there is a function called
> Extract(), where given a list of words, we can do something like this:

> Syntax:
> Extract(List of words,starting position,number of words,[delimiter
> character])

> Examples:
> Extract("This is a sentence.", 2, 2) = "is a"
> Where it would extract the second word and pull out the next word,
> where the delimiter character is by default a space.

> Extract("This is a sentence.", 1,1) = "This"

> But, as I stated before, I'm looking for something that handles
> delimiter characters...

> Extract("This|is|a|sentence",1,2,|) = "This|is"

> If anyone knows of a function that will allow me to do this...or even
> better, a function that allows me to extract the day/month/year of a
> date...or even...is able to determine the difference (and be able to
> handle leap years) between two dates...I would love to hear from you...

> Or perhaps we can discuss how to code this 'Extract()' function of
> mine...

> Cajun Nights Mush /> Who Wants to Live Forever?
> Cajun.Targonia.com 7373 /< ICQ:13682963

> [\\\\\\\\\\(O):::<======================================-

> BourbonStreet/1373/ \> John "Imagicka"
> Blackthorne.

--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/

Wed, 18 Jun 1902 08:00:00 GMT

John Downin
#5 / 6

Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

The Split function literally splits a string into an array of strings and
you can specify whatever delimiter you want--space is the default.
So,

Dim s as String
Dim sPart as string
Dim sHold() as String

s="VB is cool"
sHold() = Split(s, " ")
sPart = sHold(LBound(sHold))

sPart, then, holds "VB"

Try it out. It is really a cool new function--new to VB 6.

Hope this helps,

John

Quote:

> John,

> Here's a function that does exactly what you are describing in the
> beginning of your message.
> Function Scan(Text_Str, n, delim As String)
> ' Module: Scan
> ' Function: Returns the nth word from a string of characters. The words
> ' are separated by a character.
> '
> ' Author: Joseph Jandal
> ' Initial:02/09/94
> ' Parms:
> ' 1. Text_Str: an input parameter holding a line of text
> ' 2. n: an input paramter holding the relative position of the word
> in the text
> ' 3. the delimiter
> ' Mods:
> ' Date Comments

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Show quoted text -

Quote:

> ---
> 'This function returns the nth non-blank word from a string of chars.

> Dim words, Tlen, delpos, WordLen As Integer
> Dim Word, F_Str As String
> On Error GoTo ErrScan
> Scan = ""
> F_Str = Trim$(Text_Str) 'trim leading blanks
> Tlen = Len(F_Str)
> If n <= 0 Or Tlen = 0 Then Exit Function
> For words = 1 To n
> Scan = ""
> If Tlen = 0 Then Exit Function
> delpos = InStr(1, F_Str, delim) 'Find next space.
> If delpos > 0 Then
> Word = Left(F_Str, delpos - 1) 'Return word
> Else
> Word = F_Str 'Return word
> End If
> Scan = Word
> If words = n Then
> 'MsgBox F_Str & " Scan returned word" & n & "=" & Word
> Exit Function
> End If
> 'If words = 18 Then MsgBox "Before LTRIM String=" & F_Str
> If delpos > 0 Then
> F_Str = Mid(F_Str, delpos + 1)
> Else: F_Str = ""
> End If
> Tlen = Len(F_Str)
> Next words
> Exit Function
> ErrScan:
> Debug.Print Error(Err)
> End Function

> > Greetings...

> > Does anyone know of a Visual Basic function, or has coded a function
> > that will extract a word from a string, that has the ability to use a
> > Delimiter Character?

> > Or perhaps they know how to remove the 'month' portion of a 'date'?
> > I'm looking at having a variable which is the type: date. To which, I
> > want to be able to extract the 'day' portion, 'month' and 'year'
> > portions.

> > The ultimate purpose is I want to determine the difference in days,
> > months, and years of two dates.

> > But to get back to my search for an extracting function...

> > Such as:
> > If anyone is familiar with TinyMush, there is a function called
> > Extract(), where given a list of words, we can do something like this:

> > Syntax:
> > Extract(List of words,starting position,number of words,[delimiter
> > character])

> > Examples:
> > Extract("This is a sentence.", 2, 2) = "is a"
> > Where it would extract the second word and pull out the next word,
> > where the delimiter character is by default a space.

> > Extract("This is a sentence.", 1,1) = "This"

> > But, as I stated before, I'm looking for something that handles
> > delimiter characters...

> > Extract("This|is|a|sentence",1,2,|) = "This|is"

> > If anyone knows of a function that will allow me to do this...or even
> > better, a function that allows me to extract the day/month/year of a
> > date...or even...is able to determine the difference (and be able to
> > handle leap years) between two dates...I would love to hear from you...

> > Or perhaps we can discuss how to code this 'Extract()' function of
> > mine...

> > Cajun Nights Mush /> Who Wants to Live Forever?
> > Cajun.Targonia.com 7373 /< ICQ:13682963

> > [\\\\\\\\\\(O):::<======================================-

> > BourbonStreet/1373/ \> John "Imagicka"
> > Blackthorne.

> --
> Posted via CNET Help.com
> http://www.help.com/

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 13:19:33 GMT

Richard Kitche
#6 / 6

Extracting Words Function using a Delimiter Character

What version of vb are you using?
if its vb6 you can use split:

function extract(words as string, st as integer, nwords as integer, delm as
string) as string
dim s
s = split(words,delm)
extract = ""
for cnt = 0 to nwords - 1
if cnt=0 then
extract = s(cnt)
else
extract = extract & delm & s(cnt)
end if
next
end function

in prior versions:
function extract(words as string, st as integer, nwords as integer, delm as
string) as string
cnt = 0
res=1
do while cnt<nwords and res >0 and res < len(words)
res = instr(res + 1,words,delm)
loop
extract = left(words,res)
end function

These should work although I didn't test them.
they are pretty ugly though

Richard Kitchen

Quote:

> Greetings...

> Does anyone know of a Visual Basic function, or has coded a function
> that will extract a word from a string, that has the ability to use a
> Delimiter Character?

> Or perhaps they know how to remove the 'month' portion of a 'date'?
> I'm looking at having a variable which is the type: date. To which, I
> want to be able to extract the 'day' portion, 'month' and 'year'
> portions.

> The ultimate purpose is I want to determine the difference in days,
> months, and years of two dates.

> But to get back to my search for an extracting function...

> Such as:
> If anyone is familiar with TinyMush, there is a function called
> Extract(), where given a list of words, we can do something like this:

> Syntax:
> Extract(List of words,starting position,number of words,[delimiter
> character])

> Examples:
> Extract("This is a sentence.", 2, 2) = "is a"
> Where it would extract the second word and pull out the next word,
> where the delimiter character is by default a space.

> Extract("This is a sentence.", 1,1) = "This"

> But, as I stated before, I'm looking for something that handles
> delimiter characters...

> Extract("This|is|a|sentence",1,2,|) = "This|is"

> If anyone knows of a function that will allow me to do this...or even
> better, a function that allows me to extract the day/month/year of a
> date...or even...is able to determine the difference (and be able to
> handle leap years) between two dates...I would love to hear from you...

> Or perhaps we can discuss how to code this 'Extract()' function of
> mine...

> Cajun Nights Mush /> Who Wants to Live Forever?
> Cajun.Targonia.com 7373 /< ICQ:13682963

> [\\\\\\\\\\(O):::<======================================-

> BourbonStreet/1373/ \> John "Imagicka"
> Blackthorne.

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 12:07:49 GMT