How to multi-split the text while going deeper into details by level

Question

vb

How to multi-split the text while going deeper into details by level

'This is the input text
   Dim MyString As String = "00[A]1111{C}22(B)33333{C}4{C}5{C}666[A]777(B)8(B)99{C}999[A]101010"
'The expected output is an array as shown below
Dim Result as String()={"]1111{","}22(",")33333{","}4{","}5{","}666[",")99{","}999["}

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyString As String = "00[A]1111{C}22(B)33333{C}4{C}5{C}666[A]777(B)8(B)99{C}999[A]101010"
         Dim LevelSplit As String() = {"A", "B", "C"}
        MultiFinderString(MyString, LevelSplit(0), LevelSplit)
 End Sub
Dim LisCheck As New List(Of String)
    Private Function MultiFinderString(BodyText As String, find As String, Optional MultiFind As String() = Nothing) As String
        Dim result As New List(Of Integer)()
        Dim position As Integer = InStr(BodyText, find)
        If position > 0 Then
            If position > 1 Then
                result.Add(1)
            End If
            While position > 0
                result.Add(position)
                position = InStr(position + 1, BodyText, find)
            End While
            If result(result.Count - 1) < BodyText.Length Then
                result.Add(BodyText.Length)
            End If
            Dim MyInteger As Integer() = result.ToArray

Dim ResultStr As String() = MyInteger.Select(Function(x, index)
   If index < MyInteger.Length - 2 Then                                                           Return $"{x }-{MyInteger(index + 1) - 1}"                                                           Else
Return $"{x}-{MyInteger.Last() + 1}"                                                             End If
End Function).Take(MyInteger.Length - 1).ToArray()


            Dim level As Integer
            level += 1
            For Each Itm In ResultStr
                Dim intStart, IntEnd As Integer
                intStart = Val(Split(Itm, "-")(0))
                IntEnd = Val(Split(Itm, "-")(1))
                Dim sttMid As String = Mid(BodyText, intStart, Math.Abs(IntEnd - intStart))
                Dim stt4 As String = MultiFinderString(sttMid, MultiFind(level))
                Return stt4
                LisCheck.Add(sttMid)
            Next
        End If
    End Function

Answer 1

To achieve multi-splitting of the text based on different levels of delimiters in Visual Basic, you can modify your approach to handle each delimiter separately and recursively. The provided code snippet is a good starting point, but it needs adjustments to correctly return the expected output.

Here’s a revised version of your function that processes the string based on multiple delimiters:

Private Function MultiFinderString(BodyText As String, find As String, Optional MultiFind As String() = Nothing) As List(Of String)
    Dim result As New List(Of String)()
    Dim position As Integer = InStr(BodyText, find)

    While position > 0
        Dim startPos As Integer = position - 1
        Dim endPos As Integer = position + Len(find) - 1

        ' Capture the substring around the found delimiter
        If startPos >= 0 And endPos < BodyText.Length Then
            result.Add(Mid(BodyText, startPos, endPos - startPos + 1))
        End If

        position = InStr(position + 1, BodyText, find)
    End While

    ' Recursively process for the next level of delimiters
    If MultiFind IsNot Nothing AndAlso MultiFind.Length > 1 Then
        Dim nextLevelResults As New List(Of String)()
        For Each item In result
            Dim nextResults = MultiFinderString(item, MultiFind(1), MultiFind.Skip(1).ToArray())
            nextLevelResults.AddRange(nextResults)
        Next
        Return nextLevelResults
    End If

    Return result
End Function

In this function:

• It searches for the specified delimiter and captures the surrounding text.
• It recursively processes the found substrings for the next level of delimiters.
• The results are collected and returned as a list of strings.

You can call this function with your initial string and the array of delimiters to get the desired output.

---

References:

• How to: Convert a String to an Array of Characters in Visual Basic
• Extract substrings from a string

Answer 2

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyString As String = "00[A]1111{C}22(B)33333{C}4{C}5{C}666[A]777(B)8(B)99{C}999[A]101010"
        Dim LevelSplit As New List(Of String)
        LevelSplit.AddRange({"A", "B", "C"})
        Dim Result As String() = MultiFinderString(MyString, LevelSplit)
    End Sub
    Function MultiFinderString(BodyText As String, MultiFind As List(Of String)) As String()
        Dim Seprator As Char = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Chr(3)
        For Each item In MultiFind
            Dim idx As Integer = MultiFind.IndexOf(item)
            If idx = MultiFind.Count - 1 Then
                Dim sttSetup As String = Join(BodyText.Split(Seprator).Where(Function(f) f Like "*" & item & "*").Select(Function(f) f).ToArray, item)
                Return Split(sttSetup, item)
            Else
                BodyText = Replace(BodyText, item, Seprator)
            End If
        Next
    End Function