Scan from string with delimiter (variable length string)

[abeaver]

Hi,

I know there is a simple answer to this question but I cannot seem to find the solution.

I have an initial string that is delimited by semicolons. I want to extract string "string" into output 1 and floating point number "12.345" into output 2. Since I put the semicolon seperator in the format string you would think it would scan until it reaches that character but instead output 1 is "string;12.345;% and output 2 fails to produce anything.

This format string "%[^;];%f;" will work but seems like a work around to me. Any thoughts?

[uChiron]

String length... %<length>s

Period Decimal Separator ( %.; ) before the %f;

[Omar_II]

Try "not a ;" for your first string. [^;]

Try this in your format string

%[^;];%f;

[abeaver]

TimeWaveZero: The length of the string varies.

Omar_II: I mentioned this in the orignal post but it seems dirty to me. The scan from string functions usually havethe ability to scan a varible length string until it reaches the exact string, which in this case is a semicolon.

[crossrulz]

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Omar_II wrote:

%[^;];%f;

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That is exactly what is needed.  The %[^;] will return a string of variable length up until a ";" is found (not including the ";").  It is not a work around.  It is by design.

I highly recommend searching for "Format Specifier Syntax" in the LabVIEW Help.  I keep a printout of that help page hanging in my office since it is such a needed resource.

[GerdW · Accepted solution]

Hi abeaver,

ScanFromString scans a variable length string until it reaches a whitespace char (like space, tab, LF, CR)…

[crossrulz]

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GerdW wrote:ScanFromString scans a variable length string until it reaches a whitespace char (like space, tab, LF, CR)…

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Wow, I did not know that.  I'm not sure if that is good or not.  I guess it hasn't burned me yet.  But something to keep in mind.

[Omar_II]

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@abeaver wrote:

Omar_II: I mentioned this in the orignal post but it seems dirty to me. The scan from string functions usually havethe ability to scan a varible length string until it reaches the exact string, which in this case is a semicolon.

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The scan function is what is called "greedy". It will scan using first %s until it finds something that is not a string.

Returning for the first part the longest string the matches. But your string is ALL strings so it grabs all the string to fill the first %s leaving nothing for the rest.

Using Regular Expression there is a flag to make it return the shortest string to meet your format string. 

Search for Greedy and non greedy quantifiers.

They might work for the Scan from string function.

I almost never use the Scan from String Function for this very reason. I use Regular Expression so that I can control what I get.

[Darin.K]

No need to sell scan from string short.

[CFER_STS]

I have used a cheap brute force method to do exactly this:  Run the string through a search and replace function first, and change every instance of your chosen delimiter(s) to whitespace, then scan from string with the normal format specifiers.