Easy string parsing - GameCreators Forum

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SirFire

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Joined: 4th Apr 2005

Location: North America

Posted: 8th Feb 2006 06:19 Edited at: 8th Feb 2006 06:21

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Here is a function that makes parsing strings in DBP a peice of cake without the use of TPCs.

All you have to do is call the function like so:

+ Code Snippet

mystg$="milk,eggs,cheese,bacon"
a=parsestring(mystg$,",")

The first argument of the function is the string you wish to parse, and the second argument is the delimeter you want to use to seperate the parts. In this case, we use the comma as the delimter, so the function will return an array of elements, and the bounds of the array will be the number of items found:
a(0)=milk
a(1)=eggs
a(2)=cheese
a(3)=bacon
You can use any character as a delimter including the space " ", which makes it handy for parsing plain lines of text.
so if you passed "Why did the chicken cross the road?" like so:

+ Code Snippet

a=parsestring("Why did the chicken cross the road?"," ")

the function would return:
a(0)="Why"
a(1)="did"
....
a(6)="road?"

Hope this helps you in your programming endeavors!

The function:

+ Code Snippet

function parsestring(stringtoparse as string, delim as string)
  dim a(200)
  s As String
  DelimPos As Integer
  count As Integer
  If Len(StringToParse) = 0 Or Len(Delim) = 0
    ParseString = Null
    ExitFunction parsestring
  EndIf
  If Len(Delim) >= Len(StringToParse)
    ParseString = Null
    ExitFunction parsestring
  EndIf
  DelimPos = InStr(StringToParse, Delim,1)
  If DelimPos = 0
    a(0) = StringToParse
    ParseString = a
    ExitFunction parsestring
  EndIf
  s = StringToParse
  count = 0
  lpp:
    a(count) = Left$(s, DelimPos - 1)
    s = Right$(s, Len(s) - (DelimPos + Len(Delim) - 1))
    count = count + 1
    DelimPos = InStr(s, Delim,1)
    If DelimPos = 0
      a(count) = s
      s = ""
    EndIf
  if Len(s) <> 0 then goto lpp:
  ParseString = a
EndFunction parsestring

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Sven B

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Joined: 5th Jan 2005

Location: Belgium

Posted: 8th Feb 2006 21:04

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No offence:

+ Code Snippet

function ParseString(S$, sign$)
   dim a(1) as string
   local i as integer
   i = 1
   for a = 1 to len(S$)
      if mid$(S$, a) <> sign$
         a(i) = a(i) + mid$(S$, a)
      else
         inc i
         array insert at bottom a(0)
      endif
   next a
endfunction

It's the programmer's life:
Have a problem, solve the problem, and have a new problem to solve.

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SirFire

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Location: North America

Posted: 8th Feb 2006 22:25 Edited at: 8th Feb 2006 22:27

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Quote: "No offence:"

None taken, I will now be using your code instead as it looks more efficient. Thanks

[edit]Although, since you declared the array inside the function and did not specify a return value from the function, some modification will be necessary to make the data generated available outside the function.

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Sven B

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Location: Belgium

Posted: 9th Feb 2006 19:22

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Quote: "Although, since you declared the array inside the function "

the array is declared in the function just like yours

Maybe something I should've said earlier:
I think a piece of your code is missing. You're referring to InStr() which isn't a command. So I guess you might've forgot a function

Oh and one thing, if you have edited my code, please post it here

It's the programmer's life:
Have a problem, solve the problem, and have a new problem to solve.

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Phaelax

DBPro Master

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Joined: 16th Apr 2003

Location: Metropia

Posted: 13th Feb 2006 08:27

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I made this about 2 years ago (its in the codebase), a string tokenizer. It can break down a string given multiple single-character delimiters at once.

Global delimiter$ as string
Global string$ as string
Global token$ as string
Global stringLength as integer
Global startingPosition as integer
Global delimiterLength as integer
delimiter$= ",2"
string$ = "906,Sat,28,Aug,2004,06,07,10,20,37,44,36, 1263778, 4, Pearl , 7"
token$ = ""
stringLength = len(string$)
startingPosition = 1
delimiterLength = len(delimiter$)

while hasMoreTokens() = 1
  print nextToken$()
endwhile

repeat : until spacekey()

REM Returns the next token from the string
function nextToken$()
  flag = 0

if delimiter$ = ""
      startingPosition = stringLength
      token$ = string$
  endif

for i = startingPosition to stringLength-1
      for x = 1 to delimiterLength
        if mid$(delimiter$,x) = mid$(string$,i)
            token$ = subString(string$, startingPosition-1, i-1)
            startingPosition = i+1
            flag = 1
            sp = startingPosition
            repeat
               hit = 0
               for x = 1 to delimiterLength
                  if mid$(delimiter$,x) = mid$(string$,sp) then hit = 1
               next x
               if hit = 1 then inc sp, 1
            until hit = 0
            startingPosition = sp
            exit
        endif
        if (i = stringLength-1)
            token$ = subString(string$, startingPosition-1, i+1)
            startingPosition = i+1
            flag = 1
        endif
      next x

if flag = 1 then exit
  next i
endfunction token$

REM Returns true(1) if the string has more tokens left
function hasMoreTokens()
  if startingPosition <= stringLength-1 then exitfunction 1
endfunction 0

REM Returns a chunk of a whole string
REM starp - is the starting position of the substring that
REM        you want to be returned. The character at that
REM        position is not included in the returned result.
REM endp - is the position of the last character in the string
REM        you want to be returned.
function subString(s$ as string, startp as integer, endp as integer)
  l = len(s$)
  s$ = right$(s$,l-startp)
  s$ = left$(s$, endp-startp)
endfunction s$

+ Code Snippet

Global delimiter$ as string
Global string$ as string
Global token$ as string
Global stringLength as integer
Global startingPosition as integer
Global delimiterLength as integer
delimiter$= ",2"
string$ = "906,Sat,28,Aug,2004,06,07,10,20,37,44,36, 1263778, 4, Pearl , 7"
token$ = ""
stringLength = len(string$)
startingPosition = 1
delimiterLength = len(delimiter$)



while hasMoreTokens() = 1
  print nextToken$()
endwhile

repeat : until spacekey()




REM Returns the next token from the string
function nextToken$()
  flag = 0

  if delimiter$ = ""
      startingPosition = stringLength
      token$ = string$
  endif

  for i = startingPosition to stringLength-1
      for x = 1 to delimiterLength
        if mid$(delimiter$,x) = mid$(string$,i)
            token$ = subString(string$, startingPosition-1, i-1)
            startingPosition = i+1
            flag = 1
            sp = startingPosition
            repeat
               hit = 0
               for x = 1 to delimiterLength
                  if mid$(delimiter$,x) = mid$(string$,sp) then hit = 1
               next x
               if hit = 1 then inc sp, 1
            until hit = 0
            startingPosition = sp
            exit
        endif
        if (i = stringLength-1)
            token$ = subString(string$, startingPosition-1, i+1)
            startingPosition = i+1
            flag = 1
        endif
      next x

      if flag = 1 then exit
  next i
endfunction token$



REM Returns true(1) if the string has more tokens left
function hasMoreTokens()
  if startingPosition <= stringLength-1 then exitfunction 1
endfunction 0



REM Returns a chunk of a whole string
REM starp - is the starting position of the substring that
REM        you want to be returned. The character at that
REM        position is not included in the returned result.
REM endp - is the position of the last character in the string
REM        you want to be returned.
function subString(s$ as string, startp as integer, endp as integer)
  l = len(s$)
  s$ = right$(s$,l-startp)
  s$ = left$(s$, endp-startp)
endfunction s$

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BatVink

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Joined: 4th Apr 2003

Location: Gods own County, UK

Posted: 15th Feb 2006 09:49

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SirFire, you can get the same info from Sven B's code. He's adding elements to the array when required, so ARRAY COUNT(a()) gets you the number of strings. It also means you only ever have as many elements as you need, and can have more than 200 results.

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Code Snippets / Easy string parsing