Changing Variable Reference in Script by Using the Script Itself

[EphratahNothing]

First post ever.

I am trying to parse a large text file which has a sections that look like this:

1 ACD 0002500008 INCALLS VZLABB 1 Y 00008

4 DN 0002500009

10 MDN 0002500520 MCA PRIM:N RING :ALWAYS NCOS:3

11 MDN 0002500521 MCA PRIM:N RING :ALWAYS NCOS:3

12 MDN 0002500524 MCA PRIM:N RING :ALWAYS NCOS:3

by using code that looks like this:

If StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8) = "1" Then

$KEY_DN_1 = $KEY_DN_1 & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

ElseIf StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8) = "2" Then

$KEY_DN_2 = $KEY_DN_2 & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

ElseIf StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8) = "3" Then

$KEY_DN_3 = $KEY_DN_3 & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

ElseIf StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8) = "4" Then

$KEY_DN_4 = $KEY_DN_4 & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

ElseIf StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8) = "5" Then

$KEY_DN_5 = $KEY_DN_5 & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

... and so on until ...

ElseIf StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8) = "64" Then

$KEY_DN_64 = $KEY_DN_64 & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

Endif

I am thinking, rather than writing 128 lines of code that there must be a more elegant way of doing this.

I picture a loop that increments from 1 to 64 and changes the names of the equivicant and the names of the variables.

Unfortunately I can discover no way to change the names of the variable on each pass through the loop.

Would somebody tell me if this is possible and, if it is, steer me in the right direction, please?

TIA!

BTW, please ignore that my logic is flawed in that any line that starts with 1 could get get caught twice (1 and 10, for example). My question is not so much about what the lines of code are doing but rather how to avoid having to write so many of them.

[water]

Don't use individual variables, use an array.

Global $KEY_DN[65] ; because an array starts with element 0. As the data starts with 1 element 0 will be empty
$iNumber = StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, 6), 8)
$KEY_DN[$iNumber] = $KEY_DN[$iNumber] & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line,StringInStr($Line," ")),1)

[EphratahNothing]

Sweet!

Here is what I wound up with:

Global $KEY_DN_[65]
For $j = 1 To 64
If StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, StringLen($j)), 8) = $j Then
$KEY_DN_[$j] = $KEY_DN_[$j] & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line, StringInStr($Line, " ")), 1)
EndIf
Next

This helped to to eliminate over 700 lines of code! (I had to do something like this numerous times.)

Thanks, Water!

Now, how do I mark this topic as SOLVED?

[water]

Here is what I wound up with:

Global $KEY_DN_[65]
For $j = 1 To 64
If StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, StringLen($j)), 8) = $j Then
$KEY_DN_[$j] = $KEY_DN_[$j] & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line, StringInStr($Line, " ")), 1)
EndIf
Next

You can even enhance performance of your script. The beauty of arrays is that you can access each element directly by its index. So you could use something like this:

Global $KEY_DN_[65]
Global $iNumber = StringStripWS(StringLeft($Line, StringLen($j)), 8)
If IsNumber($iNumber) And $iNumber >= 1 And $iNumber <= 64 Then _
    $KEY_DN_[$iNumber] = $KEY_DN_[$iNumber] & StringStripWS(StringTrimLeft($Line, StringInStr($Line, " ")), 1)

Now, how do I mark this topic as SOLVED?

You can't. I think you have to have at least 5 poste before you can change the title of your thread.