COLUMN$ returns a column of text from a document

Syntax

  1. COLUMN$(Document$, StartPos%, Length%)
  2. COLUMN$(ColNo%, Document$, Delimiter$)

Arguments

Method 1

  • Document$ is a document (a StrExp)
  • StartPos is an integer number for the startposition of the column (a NumExp)
  • Length% is the integer number of positions in the column (a NumExp);

Method 2

  • ColNo% is the integer number of the column (a NumExp), in Document$ with Delimiter$ (both StrExp);

Remarks

  • Method 1 removes all characters from a document left of StartPos and maintains the number of charachters per line corresponding with Length, if available.
  • Method 2 returns a column indicated with ColNo from a table in a document of which the elements are delimited by a (group of) character(s).
  • When using method 2, lines which do not include the delimiter are not parsed nor included in the output of this function.
  • When a space is present as delimiter in the document, you should use the SPACE function instead of putting a space or " " in the syntax.

Examples

Let our document$ contain the following information.

"
Item: Manufactured on the basis of:
Model No. 7965 #@# MARIN drawing No. 15617-015
Rudder I #@# MARIN drawing No. 15617-009
Headbox I #@# MARIN drawing No. 15617-009
Bossing I #@# MARIN drawing No. 15617-009
"

Method 1

COLUMN$(document$, 5, 25)

returns:

"
: Manufactured on the bas
l No. 7965 #@# MARIN draw
er I #@# MARIN drawing No
box I #@# MARIN drawing N
ing I #@# MARIN drawing N
"

Which seems pretty impractical. For this document, method 2 turns out to be more useful.

Method 2

COLUMN$(2, document$, "#@#")

returns:

"MARIN drawing No. 15617-015
MARIN drawing No. 15617-009
MARIN drawing No. 15617-009"

You can see that lines which do not include the delimiter are ignored.

Example knowledgebases

Download

An example knowledgebase of this function can be downloaded here.

Description

Input 

The document which is used in the knowledgebase is the same as described in the examples above, and is located in the dataslot of 

Document$.

The method is chosen by the user with the ChooseMethod parameter.

Relations and constraints

The function ColumnDocument$ is defined in 2 ways, connected to constraints.

  1. ColumnDocument$ = COLUMN$(Document$, StartPos%, Length%) 
    Constraint:ChooseMethod = 1

  2. ColumnDocument$ = COLUMN$(ColNo%, Document$, Delimiter$) 
    Constraint:ChooseMethod = 1

Solution

When running ColumnDocument$ as top goal, the method is chosen and the corresponding parameters have to be filled in (starting position and length in method 1, column number and delimiter character in method 2). The result is as described above.


 

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