String problem (VB2005)

[nbrege]

I have a string that represents a part number. The part number is always a 5 or 6 digit number, such as "35292" or "105468". Optionally, the 5 digit part numbers could have a suffix such as "37023-BF". I am trying to find a way to get just the numerical portion of the part number string whether it is 5 or 6 digits & has a suffix or not. The first character of the suffix will always be a dash ("-"), if that helps any. I have tried the parse & convert methods but they error out on the strings with suffixes. Can anyone provide me with a solution to this problem? Thanks... Edited January 27, 2006 by nbrege

[IngisKahn]

RegEx - "\d+"

[nbrege]

Can you give an example? I'm not familiar with Regex. Thanks...

[IngisKahn]

Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
...
...
Dim partPattern As New Regex("^\\d+", RegexOptions.Compiled)
...
Integer.TryParse(partPattern.Match(partId).Value, partNumber)

[JumpyNET]

One way.

 

Since you are using VB I suggest Split-function.

 

       MsgBox(Split("35292", "-")(0))
       MsgBox(Split("105468", "-")(0))
       MsgBox(Split("37023-BF", "-")(0))

[JumpyNET]

Also...

 

In case you wanna know more about string parsing in VB, which is quite simple...

 

You can use Split also like this:

       Dim Part As String
       Dim Parts() As String = Split("2sd4-7635-9g69-4556", "-")
       For Each Part In Parts
           MsgBox(Part)
       Next

 

Also you might find the following functions usefull:

       System.IO.Path.Combine("C:\Dir", "File.txt") 
       System.IO.Path.GetExtension("C:\Dir\File.txt") 
       System.IO.Path.GetFileName("C:\Dir\File.txt") 
       Microsoft.VisualBasic.Right("asdfsdf", 3)
       Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left("asdfsdf", 3)
       Microsoft.VisualBasic.Mid("asdfsdf", 3, 2)
       Len("asdfsdf") 'Lenght of string
       Str(3) 'Value to string conversion
       Val("345") 'String to value conversion

[snarfblam]

You may want to consider using the Split() function built into the string class.

Dim Parts As String() = ("2sd4-7635-9g69-4556").Split("-"c)
For Each Part As String In Parts
   MessageBox.Show(Part)
Next

Using non-vb functions makes things easier for C# (or J# or C++, etc) users to understand your code, in the event that they need to look at it for some reason, and makes your code easier to translate if you ever need to. I have plenty of VB.NET code that I translate to C# when I need it, and having used common .Net functions makes life a little easier for me.

[Nate Bross]

Marble, I've gotta agree with you on that point. Using common .NET methods instead of VB only makes converting alot easier, and not only will it help other programmers understand VB code; once you get used to programming that way in VB it makes it easier for the VB programmer to understand c#, j# etc.

[snarfblam]

It's also a good habit if you plan on expanding your computing skills into other .Net languages because it means less to learn later on.