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_InStrLike


Visual Basic 6, or VB Classic

This is a combination of InStr and the Like operator. It returns the position of a mask within a string. The parameters are all user friendly variants just like the regular InStr function.
Example:
InStrLike("Test String 123abc45 Stuff","###*##")
returns 13, because 123abc45 matches the mask and it starts at character 13. Hope this is useful to somebody.

Original Author: Brad Amsberry

Inputs

Start=Position to start searching, optional
String1=String to search
String2=Mask to search for
intCompareMethod=vbCompareMethod to use, optional

Assumptions

This currently does not account for searching for the literal mask characters, which are normally enclosed in brackets in the mask. If that doesn't make sense to you then you are probably not doing it anyways so don't worry about it.

Returns

Returns a variant, which is null if String1 or String2 is null, otherwise returns the position of the mask (String2) within the string (String1). 0 if the mask is not present.

Code

Public Function InStrLike(Optional ByVal Start, Optional ByVal String1, Optional ByVal String2, Optional ByVal intCompareMethod As VbCompareMethod = vbTextCompare) As Variant
On Error GoTo err_InStrLike
Dim intPos As Integer
Dim intLength As Integer
Dim strBuffer As String
Dim blnFound As Boolean
Dim varReturn As Variant
If Not IsNumeric(Start) And IsMissing(String2) Then
String2 = String1
String1 = Start
Start = 1
End If
If IsNull(String1) Or IsNull(String2) Then
varReturn = Null
GoTo exit_InStrLike
End If
If Left(String2, 1) = "*" Then
err.Raise vbObjectError + 2600, "InStrLike", "Comparison mask cannot start with '*' since a start position cannot be determined."
Exit Function
End If
For intPos = Start To Len(String1) - Len(String2) + 1
If InStr(1, String2, "*", vbTextCompare) Then
  For intLength = 1 To Len(String1) - intPos + 1
  strBuffer = Mid(String1, intPos, intLength)
  If strBuffer Like String2 Then
   blnFound = True
   GoTo done
  End If
  Next intLength
Else
  strBuffer = Mid(String1, intPos, Len(String2))
  If strBuffer Like String2 Then
  blnFound = True
  GoTo done
  End If
End If
Next intPos
done:

If blnFound = False Then
varReturn = 0
Else
varReturn = intPos
End If
exit_InStrLike:
InStrLike = varReturn
Exit Function
err_InStrLike:
Select Case err.Number
Case Else
  varReturn = Null
  MsgBox err.Description, vbCritical, "Error #" & err.Number & " (InStrLike)"
  GoTo exit_InStrLike
End Select
End Function

About this post

Posted: 2002-06-01
By: ArchiveBot
Viewed: 104 times

Categories

Visual Basic 6

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