StringRegExp is kicking my butt. HELP!

[aslani]

Ok here's the situation. Say I have a sentence that is 200 characters long. I need StringRegExp to identify every words and spaces then array it. The reason for this is that the sentence has to be divided since the database provided can only accomodate 35 characters per line, then AutoIT have to put the rest of the sentence to the next line, then into the next line if applicable, etc.

That 200 characters sentence could be of any combination of words and can also be more or less than 200 characters.

Here's an example sentence;

Parts needs to be replaced per customer request.

The 35th character is "t" in "customer". My script currenly breaks that word.

Line 1: Parts needs to be replaced per cust

Line 2: omer request.

Then I remember that StringRegExp can solve this problem, but I'm so confused that I don't even know where to start.

I want it to come out this way;

Line 1: Parts needs to be replaced per

Line 2: customer request.

Even though the first line is not 35 characters long, it didn't break the word.

Please help.

Thanks.

Edited November 29, 2007 by aslani

[Armand]

if you always want to break the line after several chars u can use:

$line1 = Stringleft(Parts needs to be replaced per customer request, 30)

$line2 = Stringtrimleft(Parts needs to be replaced per customer request, 31) ; + 1 to remove space.

if i haven't understood what u need... ask again

EDIT:

i've read some more and here is a better one for u...

$str = @YOUR LINE THAT U NEED TO PARSE !

While stringlen($str)>35

$cut = Stringleft($str, 35)

$str = StringTrimLeft($str, 35)

iniwrite(..,...,...,...,$Cut)

Wend

this should cut the string and save it to an ini in cuts of 35...

Edited November 29, 2007 by Armand

[SmOke_N]

StringRegExp($sString, "(?s).{0,35}", 3)

Edit:

Forgot to make the exception in case the last couple of whatever is less than 35 chars.

Edited November 29, 2007 by SmOke_N

[Paulie]

Closest i could get... I can't figure out how to get it to match the punctuation at the end though.

#include <Array.au3>
$String = "Parts needs to be replaced per customer request."

$Result = StringRegExp($String, ".{0,35}\b\.?", 3);edit for punctuation

_ArrayDisplay($Result)

Edited November 29, 2007 by Paulie

[SmOke_N]

Closest i could get... I can't figure out how to get it to match the punctuation at the end though.

#include <Array.au3>
$String = "Parts needs to be replaced per customer request."

$Result = StringRegExp($String, ".{0,35}\b", 3)

_ArrayDisplay($Result)

[Paulie]

?

i think he wanted it to split the string by up to 35 characters, but preserve the words. I ran yours, but i got the result he said he didn't want:

Line 1: Parts needs to be replaced per cust

Line 2: omer request.

if you do it my way it comes out the way he says he DID want it:

Line 1: Parts needs to be replaced per

Line 2: customer request.

Edited November 29, 2007 by Paulie

[Paulie]

Oh! i just fixed mine to get the punctuation too assuming sentences only end in periods:

$Result = StringRegExp($String, ".{0,35}\b\.?", 3)

Edited November 29, 2007 by Paulie

[aslani]

if you always want to break the line after several chars u can use:

$line1 = Stringleft(Parts needs to be replaced per customer request, 30)

$line2 = Stringtrimleft(Parts needs to be replaced per customer request, 31) ; + 1 to remove space.

if i haven't understood what u need... ask again

EDIT:

i've read some more and here is a better one for u...

$str = @YOUR LINE THAT U NEED TO PARSE !

While stringlen($str)>35

$cut = Stringleft($str, 35)

$str = StringTrimLeft($str, 35)

iniwrite(..,...,...,...,$Cut)

Wend

this should cut the string and save it to an ini in cuts of 35...

That's what I have now and it's not exactly what I wanted. Thanks for the reply though.

Closest i could get... I can't figure out how to get it to match the punctuation at the end though.

#include <Array.au3>
$String = "Parts needs to be replaced per customer request."

$Result = StringRegExp($String, ".{0,35}\b\.?", 3);edit for punctuation

_ArrayDisplay($Result)oÝ÷ Ûú®¢×£
÷ß}÷N¬¢w°¢¹,¶°k"0j{m¡·jëz÷§ò"Énuëayˬ¶­©Ý±©^²Ýz¸­²Ø¥
+Á1jjey«­¢+ØÀÌØíMÑÉ¥¹ôÅÕ½ÐíAÉÑ̹ÌѼÉÁ±ÁÈÕÍѽµÈÉÅÕÍи
ÕÍѽµÉ%èÔØàÐM±Í=ÉÈèÄÈÌÐÔØÅÕ½Ð

It works!!!

Thank you, thank you.

One more question. Can you explain in plain English what's going on here: ".{0,35}\b\.?"

Just so I can grasp the concept better just in case I'd need to tweak it later on.

Thanks in advance.

[Paulie]

Thank you, thank you.

One more question. Can you explain in plain English what's going on here: ".{0,35}\b\.?"

Thanks in advance.

I can try

Ok, lets break this down into it's parts:

• .
• {0,35}
• \b
• \.
• ?

#1 is a period, if you look at the helpfile, you will see that a period will match any character except a newline by default.

#2, is a repetition indicator showing that the "." (a.k.a. any character) will match as many times as possible up to 35. This means it will match as close to 35 characters from the string as possible.

#3 is "\b", this indicates a word border. Meaning it will only match at the beginning or end of a word. So it's looking for as many characters as possible before the next word will put it over 35.

#4 is "\.". In #1 we determined that a period will match any character, but this is here to catch the punctuation at the end of the sentence. so we use the escape character "\" in fromnt of the period to say that we only want it it match an actual period.

And #5, the "?"on the end simply says that the escaped period in #4 may or may not exist, because it doesn't exist at every word border, only at the ends of sentences.

That about the best i can do. I hope it heps some

Edited November 30, 2007 by Paulie

[aslani]

I can try

Ok, lets break this down into it's parts:

• .
• {0,35}
• \b
• \.
• ?

#1 is a period, if you look at the helpfile, you will see that a period will match any character except a newline by default.

#2, is a repetition indicator showing that the "." (a.k.a. any character) will match as many times as possible up to 35. This means it will match as close to 35 characters from the string as possible.

#3 is "\b", this indicates a word border. Meaning it will only match at the beginning or end of a word. So it's looking for as many characters as possible before the next word will put it over 35.

#4 is "\.". In #1 we determined that a period will match any character, but this is here to catch the punctuation at the end of the sentence. so we use the escape character "\" in fromnt of the period to say that we only want it it match an actual period.

And #5, the "?"on the end simply says that the escaped period in #4 may or may not exist, because it doesn't exist at every word border, only at the ends of sentences.

That about the best i can do. I hope it heps some

Ah it makes sense now. Thank you, that will help me a lot since I have more situations where I'd be using StringRegExp, i.e. Making AutoIT read the custom name of the excel active sheets and identifying it if it's a "Cover" sheet or a "Billing" sheet.