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Wildcard selection of characters from a given file name

Hello,

I am trying to look up certain characters from a file name and select those file.

for eg: file name: HELLO123_MT_XYZ,

Code:

For( i = 1, i <= N Items( files ), i++,

If( Contains( files[i], "MT" ), //Enter search criteria from file name

Open( files[i] );

)

);

Above code with "MT" will pull all file names with MT as character. But how can i select files with wild card? for eg: *123*XY*

Accepted answers

txnelson

I am confused with your entries. First, lets clear up the code issue. I initially made an error in the code. And then I messed up again. The code you need to be using is:

<SPAN class="token function">Contains</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">(</SPAN> files<SPAN class="token punctuation">[</SPAN>i<SPAN class="token punctuation">]</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="token string">"123"</SPAN> <SPAN class="token punctuation">)</SPAN> <SPAN class="token operator">></SPAN> <SPAN class="token number">0</SPAN> <SPAN class="token operator">&</SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">Contains</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">(</SPAN> files<SPAN class="token punctuation">[</SPAN>i<SPAN class="token punctuation">]</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="token string">"XY"</SPAN> <SPAN class="token punctuation">)</SPAN> <SPAN class="token operator">></SPAN> <SPAN class="token number">0</SPAN> <SPAN class="token operator">&</SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">Contains</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">(</SPAN> files<SPAN class="token punctuation">[</SPAN>i<SPAN class="token punctuation">]</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="token string">"XY"</SPAN> <SPAN class="token punctuation">)</SPAN> <SPAN class="token operator">></SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">Contains</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">(</SPAN> files<SPAN class="token punctuation">[</SPAN>i<SPAN class="token punctuation">]</SPAN><SPAN class="token punctuation">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="token string">"123"</SPAN> <SPAN class="token punctuation">)</SPAN>

There is nothing magical about this code. Let me explain it. The Contains() function looks across a literal string, in your case, the current value of Files[i], looking for the value of the second argument "123". If found it returns the position it was found in. So the first use of the Contains() makes sure that there is the value "123". The second use makes sure there is a value of "XY" and the thrid comparison makes sure that "XY" is found after the value of "123". That is all it is doing.

I apologize for the coding error.....

pmroz

Regular expressions can provide a more general solution.

// Wildcard in a string: *123*XY*

slist = {"HELLO123_MT_XYZ", "HELLO123_MT_Z", "GOODBYE123_MT_XY", "XY_FUBAR_123"};

rx = "(123).*(XY)";

for (i = 1, i <= nitems(slist), i++,
	result = regex(slist[i], rx);
	print(slist[i] || ": " || char(result));

);

All comments

txnelson

If( Contains( files[i], "123" ) > 0 & Contains( files[i], "XY" ) > Contains( files[i], "123" ),
	Open( files[i] )
)

txnelson: Thank you for prompt response.

for some reason it still returns all files with "123" and doesn't consider "XY" as a search criteria.

Does it have to do anything with multiple delims?

txnelson

oops, my error, it should be:

If( Contains( files[i], "123" ) > 0 & Contains( files[i], "123" ) > 0 & Contains( files[i], "XY" ) > Contains( files[i], "123" ),
	Open( files[i] )
)

Actually if i use below -

If( Contains( files[i], "123" ) > 0 & Contains( files[i], "XY" ) > Contains( files[i], "123"),

I can get result. but one issue i found is, if file name are -

1. HELLOABC_0A_H2ABC

2. HELLOABC_1D_H2ABC

If i select "ABC" and "0A", then i get all files with "ABC" whereas if i use "ABC" and "1D" then i get specific file which contains both characters in the file name.

How does it get differentiate between 0A vs 1D? They both should be treated as string.