Use Regular Expressions to find a date in a String - regex

I am trying to use regular Expressions to extract the dates from a string using VBA in Excel.
The string is:
Previous Month: 9/1/2015 - 9/30/2015
Or it can be :
Custom: 9/1/2015 - 9/30/2015
Do you have any idea how can I achieve that? I have never used Regular Expressions before.

RegEx is a poor choice for dates. You could look for : and examine the remaining tokens:
Sub Foo()
Dim result() As Variant
result = GetDates("Previous Month: 9/1/2015 - 9/30/2015")
If UBound(result) Then
Debug.Print result(0)
Debug.Print result(1)
End If
End Sub
Function GetDates(str As String) As Variant()
Dim tokens() As String
tokens = Split(Mid$(str, InStr(str & ": ", ":")), " ")
If (UBound(tokens) = 3) Then
If IsDate(tokens(1)) And IsDate(tokens(3)) Then
GetDates = Array(CDate(tokens(1)), CDate(tokens(3)))
Exit Function
End If
End If
ReDim GetDates(0)
End Function

Try this:
([1-9]|1[012])[/]([1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|3[01])[/](19|20)[0-9]{2}

search a commandtext string for dates and then replace them with a new date
dim regex as object
Set regex = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
regex.Pattern = "\d{1,2}[-/]\d{1,2}[-/]\d{2,4}"
regex.Global = True
Set regexMatches = regex.Execute(CommandText)
for i=0 to regexMatches.Count()
date1 = regexMatches(i)
next

Related

Excel VBA - Looking up a string with wildcards

Im trying to look up a string which contains wildcards. I need to find where in a specific row the string occurs. The string all take form of "IP##W## XX" where XX are the 2 letters by which I look up the value and the ## are the number wildcards that can be any random number. Hence this is what my look up string looks like :
FullLookUpString = "IP##W## " & LookUpString
I tried using the Find Command to find the column where this first occurs but I keep on getting with errors. Here's what I had so far but it doesn't work :L if anyone has an easy way of doing. Quite new to VBA -.-
Dim GatewayColumn As Variant
Dim GatewayDateColumn As Variant
Dim FirstLookUpRange As Range
Dim SecondLookUpRange As Range
FullLookUpString = "IP##W## " & LookUpString
Set FirstLookUpRange = wsMPNT.Range(wsMPNT.Cells(3, 26), wsMPNT.Cells(3, lcolumnMPNT))
Debug.Print FullLookUpString
GatewayColumn = FirstLookUpRange.Find(What:=FullLookUpString, After:=Range("O3")).Column
Debug.Print GatewayColumn
Per the comment by #SJR you can do this two ways. Using LIKE the pattern is:
IP##W## [A-Z][A-Z]
Using regular expressions, the pattern is:
IP\d{2}W\d{2} [A-Z]{2}
Example code:
Option Explicit
Sub FindString()
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim rngData As Range
Dim rngCell As Range
Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1") '<-- set your sheet
Set rngData = ws.Range("A1:A4")
' with LIKE operator
For Each rngCell In rngData
If rngCell.Value Like "IP##W## [A-Z][A-Z]" Then
Debug.Print rngCell.Address
End If
Next rngCell
' with regular expression
Dim objRegex As Object
Dim objMatch As Object
Set objRegex = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
objRegex.Pattern = "IP\d{2}W\d{2} [A-Z]{2}"
For Each rngCell In rngData
If objRegex.Test(rngCell.Value) Then
Debug.Print rngCell.Address
End If
Next rngCell
End Sub
If we can assume that ALL the strings in the row match the given pattern, then we can examine only the last three characters:
Sub FindAA()
Dim rng As Range, r As Range, Gold As String
Set rng = Range(Range("A1"), Cells(1, Columns.Count))
Gold = " AA"
For Each r In rng
If Right(r.Value, 3) = Gold Then
MsgBox r.Address(0, 0)
Exit Sub
End If
Next r
End Sub
Try this:
If FullLookUpString Like "*IP##W##[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z]*" Then
MsgBox "Match is found"
End If
It will find your pattern (pattern can be surrounded by any characters - that's allowed by *).

use regex in a wrapped text value cell

I have a cell like this :
1 parent
1 child
I am getting the value in vba :
Dim nbChild As String
Dim nbParent As String
Sheets("Feuil1").Cells(C.Row - 1, C.Column).Value
However, I would like to put the number of parent and child in 2 separates variables nbParent and nbChild, so I was thinking to use regex to capture the groups (digit number before parent and digit number before child).
But I don't know how to do it. Thanks in advance for your help
Dim arr, parent, child
arr = Split(ActiveCell.Value, Chr(10))'split on hard return
parent=arr(0)
child=arr(1)
'then split each line on space....
debug.print Split(parent," ")(0) 'number
debug.print Split(parent," ")(1) 'text
debug.print Split(child," ")(0) 'number
debug.print Split(child," ")(1) 'text
With data like:
click on a cell and run:
Sub Family()
ary = Split(ActiveCell.Value, " ")
nParent = CLng(ary(0))
nChild = CLng(ary(2))
MsgBox nParent & vbCrLf & nChild
End Sub
(regex is not necessary)
I agree with #Gary's Student that you don't seem to need Regex but if you insist on it, I think the code below works. You'll need to add in reference to Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5 from Tools -> References.
Sub main()
Dim value As String
Dim re As VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
Dim matches As VBScript_RegExp_55.MatchCollection
Dim match As VBScript_RegExp_55.match
value = Range("A1").value
Set re = New VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
re.Pattern = "\d+"
re.Global = True
Set matches = re.Execute(value)
For Each match In matches
Debug.Print match.value
Next
End Sub

VBA: REGEX LOOKBEHIND MS ACCESS 2010

I have a function that was written so that VBA can be used in MS Access
I wish to do the following
I have set up my code below. Everything before the product works perfectly but trying to get the information behind just returns "" which is strange as when i execute it within Notepad++ it works perfectly fine
So it looks for the letters MIP and one of the 3 letter codes (any of them)
StringToCheck = "MADHUBESOMIPTDTLTRCOYORGLEJ"
' PART 1
' If MIP appears in the string, then delete any of the following codes if they exist - DOM, DOX, DDI, ECX, LOW, WPX, SDX, DD6, DES, BDX, CMX,
' WMX, TDX, TDT, BSA, EPA, EPP, ACP, ACA, ACE, ACS, GMB, MAL, USP, NWP.
' EXAMPLE 1. Flagged as: MADHUBESOMIPTDTLTRCOYORGLEJ, should be MADHUBESOMIPLTRCOYORGLEJ
Do While regexp(StringToCheck, "MIP(DOM|DOX|DDI|ECX|LOW|WPX|SDX|DD6|DES|BDX|CMX|WMX|TDX|TDT|BSA|EPA|EPP|ACP|ACA|ACE|ACS|GMB|MAL|USP|NWP|BBX)", False) <> ""
' SELECT EVERYTHING BEFORE THE THREE LETTER CODES
strPart1 = regexp(StringToCheck, ".*^[^_]+(?=DOM|DOX|DDI|ECX|LOW|WPX|SDX|DD6|DES|BDX|CMX|WMX|TDX|TDT|BSA|EPA|EPP|ACP|ACA|ACE|ACS|GMB|MAL|USP|NWP|BBX)", False)
' SELECT EVERYTHING AFTER THE THREE LETTER CODES
strPart2 = regexp(StringToCheck, "(?<=(DOM|DOX|DDI|ECX|LOW|WPX|SDX|DD6|DES|BDX|CMX|WMX|TDX|TDT|BSA|EPA|EPP|ACP|ACA|ACE|ACS|GMB|MAL|USP|NWP|BBX).*", False)
StringToCheck = strPart1 & strPart2
Loop
The function i am using which i have taken from the internet is below
Function regexp(StringToCheck As Variant, PatternToUse As String, Optional CaseSensitive As Boolean = True) As String
On Error GoTo RefErr:
Dim re As New regexp
re.Pattern = PatternToUse
re.Global = False
re.IgnoreCase = Not CaseSensitive
Dim m
For Each m In re.Execute(StringToCheck)
regexp = UCase(m.Value)
Next
RefErr:
On Error Resume Next
End Function
Just do it in two steps:
Check if MIP is in the string
If it is, remove the other codes.
Like this:
Sub Test()
Dim StringToCheck As String
StringToCheck = "MADHUBESOMIPTDTLTRCOYORGLEJ"
Debug.Print StringToCheck
Debug.Print CleanupString(StringToCheck)
End Sub
Function CleanupString(str As String) As String
Dim reCheck As New RegExp
Dim reCodes As New RegExp
reCheck.Pattern = "^(?:...)*?MIP"
reCodes.Pattern = "^((?:...)*?)(?:DOM|DOX|DDI|ECX|LOW|WPX|SDX|DD6|DES|BDX|CMX|WMX|TDX|TDT|BSA|EPA|EPP|ACP|ACA|ACE|ACS|GMB|MAL|USP|NWP|BBX)"
reCodes.Global = True
If reCheck.Test(str) Then
While reCodes.Test(str)
str = reCodes.Replace(str, "$1")
Wend
End If
CleanupString = str
End Function
Note that the purpose of (?:...)*? is to group the letters in threes.
Since the VBScript regular expression engine does support look-aheads, you can of course also do it in a single regex:
Function CleanupString(str As String) As String
Dim reClean As New RegExp
reClean.Pattern = "^(?=(?:...)*?MIP)((?:...)*?)(?:DOM|DOX|DDI|ECX|LOW|WPX|SDX|DD6|DES|BDX|CMX|WMX|TDX|TDT|BSA|EPA|EPP|ACP|ACA|ACE|ACS|GMB|MAL|USP|NWP|BBX)"
While reClean.Test(str)
str = reClean.Replace(str, "$1")
Wend
CleanupString = str
End Function
Personally, I like the two-step check/remove pattern better because it is a lot more obvious and therefore more maintainable.
Non RE option:
Function DeMIPString(StringToCheck As String) As String
If Not InStr(StringToCheck, "MIP") Then
DeMIPString = StringToCheck
Else
Dim i As Long
For i = 1 To Len(StringToCheck) Step 3
Select Case Mid$(StringToCheck, i, 3)
Case "MIP", "DOM", "DOX", "DDI", "ECX", "LOW", "WPX", "SDX", "DD6", "DES", "BDX", "CMX", "WMX", "TDX", "TDT", "BSA", "EPA", "EPP", "ACP", "ACA", "ACE", "ACS", "GMB", "MAL", "USP", "NWP":
Case Else
DeMIPString = DeMIPString & Mid$(StringToCheck, i, 3)
End Select
Next
End If
End Function

match date pattern in the string vba excel

Edit:
Since my string became more and more complicated looks like regexp is the only way.
I do not have a lot experience in that and your help is much appreciated.
Basically from what I read on the web I construct the following exp to try matching occurrence in my sample string:
"My very long long string 12Mar2012 is right here 23Apr2015"
[0-9][0-9] + [a-zA-Z] + [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]
and trying this code. I do not have any match. Any good link on regexp tutorial much appreciated.
Dim re, match, RegExDate
Set re = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
re.Pattern = "(^[0-9][0-9] + [a-zA-Z] + [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]$)"
re.Global = True
For Each match In re.Execute(str)
MsgBox match.Value
RegExDate = match.Value
Exit For
Next
Thank you
This code validates the actual date from the Regexp using DateValuefor robustness
Sub Robust()
Dim Regex As Object
Dim RegexMC As Object
Dim RegexM As Object
Dim strIn As String
Dim BDate As Boolean
strIn = "My very long long string 12Mar2012 is right here 23Apr2015 and 30Feb2002"
Set Regex = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With Regex
.Pattern = "(([0-9])|([0-2][0-9])|([3][0-1]))(Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec)(\d{4})"
.Global = True
If .test(strIn) Then
Set RegexMC = .Execute(strIn)
On Error Resume Next
For Each RegexM In RegexMC
BDate = False
BDate = IsDate(DateValue(RegexM.submatches(0) & " " & RegexM.submatches(4) & " " & RegexM.submatches(5)))
If BDate Then Debug.Print RegexM
Next
On Error GoTo 0
End If
End With
End Sub
thanks for all your help !!!
I managed to solve my problem using this simple code.
Dim rex As New RegExp
Dim dateCol As New Collection
rex.Pattern = "(\d|\d\d)(Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec)(\d{4})?"
rex.Global = True
For Each match In rex.Execute(sStream)
dateCol.Add match.Value
Next
Just note that on my side I'm sure that I got valid date in the string so the reg expression is easy.
thnx
Ilya
The following is a quick attempt I made. It's far from perfect.
Basically, it splits the string into words. While looping through the words it cuts off any punctuation (period and comma, you might need to add more).
When processing an item, we try to remove each month name from it. If the string gets shorter we might have a date.
It checks to see if the length of the final string is about right (5 or 6 characters, 1 or 2 + 4 for day and year)
You could instead (or also) check to see that there all numbers.
Private Const MonthList = "JAN,FEB,MAR,APR,MAY,JUN,JUL,AUG,SEP,OCT,NOV,DEC"
Public Function getDates(ByVal Target As String) As String
Dim Data() As String
Dim Item As String
Dim Index As Integer
Dim List() As String
Dim Index2 As Integer
Dim Test As String
Dim Result As String
List = Split(MonthList, ",")
Data = Split(Target, " ")
Result = ""
For Index = LBound(Data) To UBound(Data)
Item = UCase(Replace(Replace(Data(Index), ".", ""), ",", ""))
For Index2 = LBound(Data) To UBound(Data)
Test = Replace(Item, List(Index2), "")
If Not Test = Item Then
If Len(Test) = 5 Or Len(Test) = 6 Then
If Result = "" Then
Result = Item
Else
Result = Result & ", " & Item
End If
End If
End If
Next Index2
Next
getDates = Result
End Function

VB.Net Regular Expressions - Extracting Wildcard Value

I need help extracting the value of a wildcard from a Regular Expressions match. For example:
Regex: "I like *"
Input: "I like chocolate"
I would like to be able to extract the string "chocolate" from the Regex match (or whatever else is there). If possible, I also want to be able to retrieve several wildcard values from a single wildcard match. For example:
Regex: "I play the * and the *"
Input: "I play the guitar and the bass"
I want to be able to extract both "guitar" and "bass". Is there a way to do it?
In general regex utilize the concepts of groups. Groups are indicated by parenthesis.
So I like
Would be I like (.) . = All character * meaning as many or none of the preceding character
Sub Main()
Dim s As String = "I Like hats"
Dim rxstr As String = "I Like(.*)"
Dim m As Match = Regex.Match(s, rxstr)
Console.WriteLine(m.Groups(1))
End Sub
The above code will work for and string that has I Like and will print out all characters after including the ' ' as . matches even white space.
Your second case is more interesting because the first rx will match the entire end of the string you need something more restrictive.
I Like (\w+) and (\w+) : this will match I Like then a space and one or more word characters and then an and a space and one or more word characters
Sub Main()
Dim s2 As String = "I Like hats and dogs"
Dim rxstr2 As String = "I Like (\w+) and (\w+)"
Dim m As Match = Regex.Match(s2, rxstr2)
Console.WriteLine("{0} : {1}", m.Groups(1), m.Groups(2))
End Sub
For a more complete treatment of regex take a look at this site which has a great tutorial.
Here is my RegexExtract Function in VBA. It will return just the sub match you specify (only the stuff in parenthesis). So in your case, you'd write:
=RegexExtract(A1, "I like (.*)")
Here is the code.
Function RegexExtract(ByVal text As String, _
ByVal extract_what As String) As String
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim allMatches As Object
Dim RE As Object
Set RE = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
RE.Pattern = extract_what
RE.Global = True
Set allMatches = RE.Execute(text)
RegexExtract = allMatches.Item(0).submatches.Item(0)
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Function
Here is a version that will allow you to use multiple groups to extract multiple parts at once:
Function RegexExtract(ByVal text As String, _
ByVal extract_what As String) As String
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim allMatches As Object
Dim RE As Object
Set RE = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
Dim i As Long
Dim result As String
RE.Pattern = extract_what
RE.Global = True
Set allMatches = RE.Execute(text)
For i = 0 To allMatches.Item(0).submatches.count - 1
result = result & allMatches.Item(0).submatches.Item(i)
Next
RegexExtract = result
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Function