Parse array of strings to compare/validate against specific format

[welchs101]

hi,

I have an array of strings. This string array is an array of file names. What i want to do is make sure that each file name has the following format.

TextA_#_#



If the file name does not then i want to store this filename into another array but i think i can do this part.

What i am not clear on is the best way to "check" / "validate" that each entry in the array meets the requirement "Anytext_number_number"


Actually, the more i think about it the more i would say each file name has to have
1) 2 Underscores
2) 3 elements parsed from the file name.
the 3 elements can be a string or number.

[abousetta]

It would be something similar to:

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

This of course on the fly and might need some tweaking. Let me know if it doesn't work.

abousetta

[welchs101]

i really like how compact and short this is........i was going a totally different way.......and its much longer.

I did have one question that i need a little help with.

if i have a text string to evaluate such as this: "textA_1234_5678_jkljl.xls"

And i use the expression "*" + "_" + "*" + "_" + "*"

to evaluate if my string is ok......it passes when it should fail.


So maybe i cant use this approach..........

[welchs101]

Here is what i came up with ...........i have not done it yet to handle the array yet.....just a single string....

I think it handles all the cases i would need to consider to fail a string for not being the correct format..... "text_text_text.xls"

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

[abousetta]

Here is a worked example with the new variation.

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

If you have any other variations you can think of then it would probably be best to post a sample workbook with all the possible variations and what the end result would look like.

Hope this helps.

abousetta

[welchs101]

thanks abousetta. I will check i out. I think yours might be better but i need to review it in more detail. Few things i am not sure whats going on just yet......THANKS!!!!!!!!

[welchs101]

very neat......your code that is.........i new there had to be a more simple way to identify the number of "_" in a string than the way i did it.......thanks again.

[welchs101]

I tested it out.....the only thing i found which i guess i need to fix is the code does not seem to handle this case correctly.

aaaa__aaa.xls

in the above case there are "2" underscores back-to-back. For some reason the code passes this. Not sure why just yet but i think it has to do with the "*" + "_" + "*" + "_" + "*"

[nilem]

as an option (based on Abousetta's code)

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

[abousetta]

Hi,

I added this variant as part of the If statement:

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

I'm not a RegEx kinda guy but that seems to work also. I know that RegEx works with other languages and so if its going to be used for example on a website then you might to go down that approach. I just don't know the syntax well enough to help you there. In fact, I can barely put an IF and OR statement together in Excel... just got lucky this time I guess

[welchs101]

Thanks guys!

[abousetta]

Just as a heads-up because I forget sometimes. If all the file names are coming from a worksheet, then converting the range to an array will always give you a 2D array and so you will need to check the elements like this:

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

instead of just

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

if they are in a column and the other way if they are all in a column.

Good luck.

abousetta

P.S. Please don't forget to mark the thread as Solved when you are satisfied with the responses.