Formula to remove bracketed text 2

[jomeir]

Hello all,

I am using the following formula to detect and remove brackets and the text within it however I need it to loop as some fields have more than one instance of bracketed text. The formula is:

IF INSTR({EstDescription.Description}, "(") = 0 THEN {EstDescription.Description}
ELSE
LEFT
({EstDescription.Description}, INSTR({EstDescription.Description}, "(") - 1)
+
IF INSTR({EstDescription.Description}, ")") = 0 OR INSTR({EstDescription.Description}, ")") = LEN({EstDescription.Description}) THEN
""
ELSE
RIGHT
({EstDescription.Description}, LEN({EstDescription.Description}) - INSTR({EstDescription.Description}, ")") - 0)

Can anyone advise the best way to loop the above formula?

Thanks in advance
J

 

[fisheromacse]

If you just want to remove the characters, I would probably use 'Replace' in a pair of formulas.

{@ReplaceLeft}
Replace({EstDescription.Description},"(","");

{@ReplaceRight}
Replace({@ReplaceLeft},")","");

disregard the above....i reread the question and see that you want to remove the text within the () also.
let me look through my notes I am sure i have done what you are asking.

 

[jomeir]

Thanks for the suggestion, but i need to remove the text within the bracket also.

 

[jomeir]

@fishermacse... Your suggestion got me thinking and I have actually got it working in a Pair of formulas, or formula in a formula.

One thing i notice it's doing, is leaving a space where the bracketed text was... any ideas how to close that space
e.g. "250gsm ,"
The bracketed text was after gsm but after removal the comma is floating.

 

[Charliy]

This may not be elegant but it works. Replace the first line with local stringvar RAW := {table.yourfield}
It will not handle double close brackets well.

local stringvar RAW := "ABC[DEF]GHI[HIDE ME]JKL";
local numbervar I :=1;
LOCAL NUMBERVAR GOSTOP := 0 ;
local stringvar cooked := "";
while I <= len(RAW)
do (if Mid(RAW,I,1) = '['
THEN GOSTOP := 1
ELSE
IF GOSTOP = 2 THEN GOSTOP := 0
ELSE
IF MID(RAW,I,1) = ']'
THEN (GOSTOP := 2 );
// ELSE GOSTOP := GOSTOP;
IF GOSTOP = 0
then cooked := cooked+mid(RAW,I,1);
I:= I+1) ;
local stringvar cooked

 

[pmax9999]

I'm not suggesting this is a better approach, but it looked like an interesting challenge so thought I would have a go at a solution.

This is what I came up with:

WhilePrintingRecords;
Local NumberVar i ; 
Local NumberVar C := LEN({Table.Field}) - LEN(REPLACE({Table.Field}, '[', ''));
Local StringVar S := {Table.Field};

For i := 1 to c do
    S := LEFT(S,INSTR(S, '[') - 1) + MID(S, INSTR(S, ']', INSTR(S, '[')) + 1);

S

This works for text between square brackets , ie '[' and ']'. If you are looking for text between '(' and ')' the formula will need to be changed.

It assumes that every opening bracket will have a corresponding closing bracket.

Hope it helps.

Cheers
Pete

 

[jomeir]

Thanks for all your suggestions... much appreciated!