...thanks for the feedback and insights everyone. Fortunately my script doesn't need to address every possible set of conditions that may arise. The source list contains a set of XML nodes and their contents, so item/word 1 will never contain punctuation - and the list has been pre-filtered for nodes with empty contents, so I don't have to worry about any trailing tabs. The output as a simple table field is to provide a read-only list by way of a 'status update' for a human observer - the follow-up scripts work from the returned XML file and its associated tree.
However, the good points, well made here have made me wonder whether I can improve data quality upstream of the list field - to avoid this requirement completely. Best, Keith.. On 25 May 2011, at 17:18, Nonsanity wrote: > Actually, "a,b" would be considered a single word both when using the "word > of" format, as well as if the itemdel is space and you use "item of". In > other words... > > word 2 of "a,b cd ef" = "cd" > and > set itemdel to space > item 2 of "a,b cd ef" = "cd" > > The only real difference between the two forms is if there are runs of > spaces between words, like so: > > word 2 of "a,b[space][space]cd[space]ef" = "cd" > and > set itemdel to space > item 2 of "a,b[space][space]cd[space]ef" = empty > > The "item of" gives an empty result because it is returning the text between > the first two spaces, and there's nothing there. As far as putting a tab > after the first word, this version is functionally the same as the offset() > method I described before, but I /think/ the offset() method would be > faster. > > Making simple conversion functions is very easy in LiveCode if you can make > certain assumptions about the input data. The trick is often just finding > the exceptions in large datasets that will trip up whichever function you > pick. > > I once had to convert several months of transactions in a library database > between two formats using, I think, Supercard. It was the weird edge cases > that tended to trip it up. I kept having to add special tests for those > cases as they appeared. > > ~ Chris Innanen > ~ Nonsanity > > > > On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 11:41 AM, Alex Tweedly <a...@tweedly.net> wrote: > >> Beware this will get the (possibly) wrong result for some data. For >> instance, a comma will terminate a word, so >> >> a,b def >> >> will give you a key of "aTABb def" >> >> rather than a key of "a,TABdef" >> >> I'd stick to the safer >> >> >> set the itemDel to space >> repeat for each line L in tData >> put item 1 of L & TAB & item 2 to -1 of L & CR after tOutput >> end repeat >> >> >> or ... since they are key/value pairs, if (AND ONLY IF) you happen to know >> that the keys are unique >> >> split tData by CR and space >> combine tData by CR and TAB >> >> -- Alex. >> _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
