I'm trying to find a way to easily split a path (Raw URL) in two portions:
For example: /search/criteria/newyork/list
I would like to populate a string that would contain everything before third slash, in this case: "/search/criteria"
I also want to get the second portion into a string: "newyork/list"
You can use IndexOf to find the third slash (assuming that the first character is always the first slash, and that there are at least three slashes in the string):
Dim index3 = url.IndexOf("/"c, url.IndexOf("/"c, 1) + 1)
Then you can use Substring to get the parts before and after that slash:
Dim path As String = url.Substring(0, index3)
Dim resource As String = url.Substring(index3 + 1)
Try this:
Dim sAux() As String = sURL.Split("/"c)
Dim sResult As String = ""
If sAux.Length > 3 Then
For i As Integer = 2 to sAux.Length - 1
sResult &= sAux(i) & "/"
Next
End If
Or this:
Dim sAux As New List(Of String)(sURL.Split("/"c))
sAux.RemoveRange(0,2)
sResult = String.Join("/", sAux.ToArray())
Dim ar As String()
Dim str1 As String
Dim str2 As String
Dim a As Integer
Dim splitPosition = 3
Dim urlToSplit = "/search/criteria/newyork/list"
ar = urlToSplit.Split("/"c)
If UBound(ar) < splitPosition Then
' there are 3 or less slashes. do what you want here, error or just exit
Else
For a = 0 To splitPosition - 1
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(ar(a)) Then str1 += ar(a) + "/"
Next
For a = splitPosition To UBound(ar)
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(ar(a)) Then str2 += ar(a) + "/"
Next
End If
str1 will contain /search/criteria/
str2 will contain newyork/list/
This code will handle any number of / combinations and should not error out for a badly formed Url
If your string is always in the same format and has same number of elements (in splited array), you could use String.Format method as;
Dim arr() As String = "/search/criteria/newyork/list".Split("/"c)
Dim str1 As String = String.Format("/{1}/{2}", arr) '/search/criteria
Dim str2 As String = String.Format("{3}/{4}", arr) 'newyork/list
Related
I have as input the string in the below format
"[1_5,3,7,1],[1_2,4,1,9],[],[1_1,,4,,,9,2]"
What I need to obtain is the same string but with the number after the _ sorted:
"[1_1,3,5,7],[1_1,2,4,9],[],[1_1,2,4,9,,,]"
Dim tmprequestedArea_selectionAreaIn As String = "[1_5,3,7,1],[1_2,4,1,9],[],[1_1,,4,,,9,2]"
tmprequestedArea_selectionAreaIn = Regex.Replace(requestedArea_selectionAreaIn,"\],\[","#")
tmprequestedArea_selectionAreaIn = Regex.Replace(tmprequestedArea_selectionAreaIn,"\[|\]","")
bracList.AddRange(tmprequestedArea_selectionAreaIn.Split(New Char() {"#"c}, StringSplitOptions.None ))
If sortNumber Then
'Split braclist by _ and puts the value in strList
'If after _ is only one number put only that number, else split it by char "," and put in strList the join of the split by , array
'Sort the array
'in previous example strList will contain a,b,c in position 0 and _d_f (instead of f,d) in position 1
For i As Integer = 0 To bracList.Count -1
Dim tmp As String()
Dim tmpInt As New System.Collections.Generic.List(Of Integer)
If Not(String.IsNullOrEmpty(bracList(i))) Then
Dim tmpRequested As String = bracList(i).Split(New Char() {"_"c})(0)
Dim tmpSelection As String = bracList(i).Split(New Char() {"_"c})(1)
If tmpSelection.Contains(",") Then
tmp = tmpSelection.Split(New Char() {","c})
For j As Integer = 0 To tmp.Length -1
tmpInt.Add(Convert.toInt32(tmp(j)))
Next
tmpInt.Sort
strList.Add("[" + tmpRequested + "_" + String.Join(",",tmpInt ) + "]")
Else
strList.Add("[" + tmpRequested + "_" + tmpSelection + "]" )
End If
Else
strList.Add("[]")
End If
Next i
I'm looking for a better way to manage it.
Try this, as a possible substitute for what you're doing now.
Given this input string:
Dim input As String = "[1_5,3,7,1],[1_2,4,1,9],[],[1_1,,4,,,9,2]"
Note: this will also deal with decimal values without changes. E.g.,
"[1_5.5,3.5,7,1],[1_2.564,4,2.563,9],[],[1_1,,4.23,,,9.0,2.45]"
You can extract the content of the brackets with this pattern: \[(.*?)\] and use Regex.Matches to return a MatchCollection of all the substrings that match the pattern.
Then use a StringBuilder as a container to rebuild the string while the parts are being treated.
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Dim pattern As String = "\[(.*?)\]"
Dim matches = Regex.Matches(input, pattern, RegexOptions.Singleline)
Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
For Each match As Match In matches
Dim value As String = match.Groups(1).Value
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(value) Then
sb.Append("[],")
Continue For
End If
Dim sepPosition As Integer = value.IndexOf("_"c) + 1
sb.Append("[" & value.Substring(0, sepPosition))
Dim values = value.Substring(sepPosition).Split(","c)
sb.Append(String.Join(",", values.Where(Function(n) n.Length > 0).OrderBy(Function(n) CDec(n))))
sb.Append(","c, values.Count(Function(n) n.Length = 0))
sb.Append("],")
Next
Dim result As String = sb.ToString().TrimEnd(","c)
If you don't know about LINQ, this is what it's doing:
String.Join(",", values.Where(Function(n) n.Length > 0).OrderBy(Function(n) CDec(n)))
values is an array of strings, generated by String.Split().
values.Where(Function(n) n.Length > 0): creates an Enumerable(Of String) from values Where the content, n, is a string of length > 0.
I could have written values.Where(Function(n) Not String.IsNUllOrEmpty(n)).
.OrderBy(Function(n) CDec(n))): Orders the resulting Enumerable(Of String) using the string value converted to Decimal and generates an Enumerable(Of String), which is passed back to String.Join(), to rebuild the string, adding a char (","c) between the parts.
values.Count(Function(n) n.Length = 0): Counts the elements of values that have Length = 0 (empty strings). This is the number of empty elements that are represented by a comma, appended at the end of the partial string.
If you are looking for a "way"
I think it is easier to fetch each char of the string and if it is a number you put it in array (and when the char is ']' you start new array) the sort the arrays and replace each number from the string with it's sorted number (so you will just do allocation without the need to reconstruct with regular expression
I wish that I had Visual Studio to provide you the code (it is joyful to code a riddle) ^_^
ps:for the commas you can use a counter for each blank commas an the put it in the end
I need to figure out how I can test each character in the string to see if it is a number/letter/special character.
My question is, how can I break a string and test each individual character to see if the character is a number/letter/special character
Eg:
var = 1S#
Result1 = Num
Result2 = Alpha
Result3 = Special
If you mean
escaping user input that is to be treated as a literal string within a
regular expression—that would otherwise be mistaken for a special
character.
Then you can replace it with given regular expression:
/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g
So I got it to work by combining a few different posts on SO. This code breaks the string in an array and then checks each one for num/alpha/special and has a special case for *.
Split string into array of characters?
Regex Expression to check if there are any special characters in string like(!,#<#,$,%<^< etc)
How to use Regular Expressions (Regex) in Microsoft Excel both in-cell and loops
-
Sub test()
'''Special Character Section'''
Dim special_charArr() As String
Dim special_char As String
special_char = "!,#,#,$,%,^,&,*,+,/,\,;,:"
special_charArr() = Split(special_char, ",")
'''Special Character Section'''
'''Alpha Section'''
Dim regexp As Object
Set regexp = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
Dim strPattern As String
strPattern = "([a-z])"
With regexp
.ignoreCase = True
.Pattern = strPattern
End With
'''Alpha Section'''
Dim buff() As String
my_string = "t3s!*"
ReDim buff(Len(my_string) - 1)
For i = 1 To Len(my_string)
buff(i - 1) = Mid$(my_string, i, 1)
char = buff(i - 1)
If IsNumeric(char) = True Then
MsgBox char & " = Number"
End If
For Each Key In special_charArr
special = InStr(char, Key)
If special = 1 Then
If Key <> "*" Then
MsgBox char & " = Special NOT *"
Else
MsgBox char & " = *"
End If
End If
Next
If regexp.test(char) Then
MsgBox char & " = Alpha"
End If
Next
End Sub
I have a macro that send an XMLHTTP request to a server and it gets as response a plain text string, not a JSON format string or other standard formats (at least for what I know).
I would like to parse the output string in order to access the data in an structured approach in the same fashion as the parseJson subroutine in this link
My problem is I am not good with regular expressions and I am not able to modify the routine for my needs.
The string that I need to parse has the following structure:
The string is a single line
Each single parameter is defined by its parameter name the equal simbol, its value and ending with; "NID=3;" or "SID=Test;"
Parameter can be collected in "structures" starts and end with the symbol | and they are identified with their name followed by ; such as |STEST;NID=3;SID=Test;|
A structure can contain also other structures
An example of a output string is the following
|KC;|AD;PE=5;PF=3;|CD;PE=5;HP=test;|CD;PE=3;HP=abc;|
In this case there is a macro structure KC which contains a structure AD. The structure AD is composed by the parameters PE, PF and 2 structures CD. And finaly the structures CD have the parameters PE and HP
So I would like to parse the string to obtain an Object/Dictionary that reflects this structure, can you help me?
Adds after the first answers
Hi all, thank you for your help, but I think I should make more clear the output that I would like to get.
For the example string that I have, I would like to have an object with the following structure:
<KC>
<AD>
<PE>5</PE>
<PF>3</PF>
<CD>
<PE>5</PE>
<HP>test</HP>
</CD>
<CD>
<PE>3</PE>
<HP>abc</HP>
</CD>
</AD>
</KC>
So I started to wrote a possible working code base on some hint from #Nvj answer and the answer in this link
Option Explicit
Option Base 1
Sub Test()
Dim strContent As String
Dim strState As String
Dim varOutput As Variant
strContent = "|KC;|AD;PE=5;PF=3;|CD;PE=5;HP=test;|CD;PE=3;HP=abc;|"
Call ParseString(strContent, varOutput, strState)
End Sub
Sub ParseString(ByVal strContent As String, varOutput As Variant, strState As String)
' strContent - source string
' varOutput - created object or array to be returned as result
' strState - Object|Array|Error depending on processing to be returned as state
Dim objTokens As Object
Dim lngTokenId As Long
Dim objRegEx As Object
Dim bMatched As Boolean
Set objTokens = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
lngTokenId = 0
Set objRegEx = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
With objRegEx
.Global = True
.MultiLine = True
.IgnoreCase = True
.Pattern = "\|[A-Z]{2};" 'Pattern for the name of structures
Tokenize objTokens, objRegEx, strContent, lngTokenId, bMatched, "str"
.Pattern = "[A-Z]{2}=[^\|=;]+;" 'Pattern for parameters name and values
Tokenize objTokens, objRegEx, strContent, lngTokenId, bMatched, "par"
End With
End Sub
Sub Tokenize(objTokens, objRegEx, strContent, lngTokenId, bMatched, strType)
Dim strKey As String
Dim strKeyPar As String
Dim strKeyVal As String
Dim strWork As String
Dim strPar As String
Dim strVal As String
Dim strLevel As String
Dim strRes As String
Dim lngCopyIndex As Long
Dim objMatch As Object
strRes = ""
lngCopyIndex = 1
With objRegEx
For Each objMatch In .Execute(strContent)
If strType = "str" Then
bMatched = True
With objMatch
strWork = Replace(.Value, "|", "")
strWork = Replace(strWork, ";", "")
strLevel = get_Level(strWork)
strKey = "<" & lngTokenId & strLevel & strType & ">"
objTokens(strKey) = strWork
strRes = strRes & Mid(strContent, lngCopyIndex, .FirstIndex - lngCopyIndex + 1) & strKey
lngCopyIndex = .FirstIndex + .Length + 1
End With
lngTokenId = lngTokenId + 1
ElseIf strType = "par" Then
strKeyPar = "<" & lngTokenId & "par>"
strKeyVal = "<" & lngTokenId & "val>"
strKey = strKeyPar & strKeyVal
bMatched = True
With objMatch
strWork = Replace(.Value, ";", "")
strPar = Split(strWork, "=")(0)
strVal = Split(strWork, "=")(1)
objTokens(strKeyPar) = strPar
objTokens(strKeyVal) = strVal
strRes = strRes & Mid(strContent, lngCopyIndex, .FirstIndex - lngCopyIndex + 1) & strKey
lngCopyIndex = .FirstIndex + .Length + 1
End With
lngTokenId = lngTokenId + 2
End If
Next
strContent = strRes & Mid(strContent, lngCopyIndex, Len(strContent) - lngCopyIndex + 1)
End With
End Sub
Function get_Level(strInput As String) As String
Select Case strInput
Case "KC"
get_Level = "L1"
Case "AD"
get_Level = "L2"
Case "CD"
get_Level = "L3"
Case Else
MsgBox ("Error")
End
End Select
End Function
This function creates a dictionary with an item for each structure name, parameter name and parameter value as shown in the figure
Thanks to the function get_Level the items associated to structures have a level that should help to preserve the original hierarchy of the data.
So what I am missing is a function to create an object that has the original structure of the input string. This is what the Retrieve function do in this answer link, but I do not know how to adapt it to my case
This looks like a simple nested delimited string. A couple of Split() functions will do the trick:
Option Explicit
Function parseString(str As String) As Collection
Dim a1() As String, i1 As Long, c1 As Collection
Dim a2() As String, i2 As Long, c2 As Collection
Dim a3() As String
a1 = Split(str, "|")
Set c1 = New Collection
For i1 = LBound(a1) To UBound(a1)
If a1(i1) <> "" Then
Set c2 = New Collection
a2 = Split(a1(i1), ";")
For i2 = LBound(a2) To UBound(a2)
If a2(i2) <> "" Then
a3 = Split(a2(i2), "=")
If UBound(a3) > 0 Then
c2.Add a3(1), a3(0)
ElseIf UBound(a3) = 0 Then
c2.Add a3(0)
End If
End If
Next i2
c1.Add c2
End If
Next i1
Set parseString = c1
End Function
Sub testParseString()
Dim c As Collection
Set c = parseString("|KC;|AD;PE=5;PF=3;|CD;PE=5;HP=test;|CD;PE=3;HP=abc;|")
Debug.Assert c(1)(1) = "KC"
Debug.Assert c(2)("PE") = "5"
Debug.Assert c(3)(1) = "CD"
Debug.Assert c(4)("HP") = "abc"
Debug.Assert c(4)(3) = "abc"
End Sub
Note that you can address values by both, index and key (if key existed in the input). If key was not provided you can only access the value by its index. You can also iterate collection recursively to get all the values in a tree structure.
Food for thought: since your structures may have repeated names (in your case "CD" structure happens twice) Collections / Dictionaries would find it problematic to store this elegantly (due to key collisions). Another good way to approach this is to create an XML structure with DOMDocument and use XPath to access its elements. See Program with DOM in Visual Basic
UPDATE: I've added XML example below as well. Have a look.
Here is another take on your string parsing issue using DOMDocument XML parser. You need to include Microsoft XML, v.6.0 in your VBA references.
Function parseStringToDom(str As String) As DOMDocument60
Dim a1() As String, i1 As Long
Dim a2() As String, i2 As Long
Dim a3() As String
Dim dom As DOMDocument60
Dim rt As IXMLDOMNode
Dim nd As IXMLDOMNode
Set dom = New DOMDocument60
dom.async = False
dom.validateOnParse = False
dom.resolveExternals = False
dom.preserveWhiteSpace = True
Set rt = dom.createElement("root")
dom.appendChild rt
a1 = Split(str, "|")
For i1 = LBound(a1) To UBound(a1)
If a1(i1) <> "" Then
a2 = Split(a1(i1), ";")
Set nd = dom.createElement(a2(0))
For i2 = LBound(a2) To UBound(a2)
If a2(i2) <> "" Then
a3 = Split(a2(i2), "=")
If UBound(a3) > 0 Then
nd.appendChild dom.createElement(a3(0))
nd.LastChild.Text = a3(1)
End If
End If
Next i2
rt.appendChild nd
End If
Next i1
Set parseStringToDom = dom
End Function
Sub testParseStringToDom()
Dim dom As DOMDocument60
Set dom = parseStringToDom("|KC;|AD;PE=5;PF=3;|CD;PE=5;HP=test;|CD;PE=3;HP=abc;|")
Debug.Assert Not dom.SelectSingleNode("/root/KC") Is Nothing
Debug.Assert dom.SelectSingleNode("/root/AD/PE").Text = "5"
Debug.Assert dom.SelectSingleNode("/root/CD[1]/HP").Text = "test"
Debug.Assert dom.SelectSingleNode("/root/CD[2]/HP").Text = "abc"
Debug.Print dom.XML
End Sub
As you can see this converts your text into an XML DOM document preserving all the structures and allowing for duplicates in naming. You can then use XPath to access any node or value. This can also be extended to have more nesting levels and further structures.
This is the XML document it creates behind the scenes:
<root>
<KC/>
<AD>
<PE>5</PE>
<PF>3</PF>
</AD>
<CD>
<PE>5</PE>
<HP>test</HP>
</CD>
<CD>
<PE>3</PE>
<HP>abc</HP>
</CD>
</root>
I've started to write a parser in VBA for the string structure specified by you, and it's not complete, but I'll post it anyways. Maybe you can pick up some ideas from it.
Sub ParseString()
Dim str As String
str = "|KC;|AD;PE=5;PF=3;|CD;PE=5;HP=test;|CD;PE=3;HP=abc;|"
' Declare an object dictionary
' Make a reference to Microsoft Scripting Runtime in order for this to work
Dim dict As New Dictionary
' If the bars are present in the first and last character of the string, replace them
str = Replace(str, "|", "", 1, 1)
If (Mid(str, Len(str), 1) = "|") Then
str = Mid(str, 1, Len(str) - 1)
End If
' Split the string by bars
Dim substring_array() As String
substring_array = Split(str, "|")
' Declare a regex object
' Check the reference to Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5 in order for this to work
Dim regex As New RegExp
With regex
.Global = True
.IgnoreCase = True
.MultiLine = True
End With
' Object to store the regex matches
Dim matches As MatchCollection
Dim param_name_matches As MatchCollection
Dim parameter_value_matches As MatchCollection
' Define some regex patterns
pattern_for_structure_name = "^[^=;]+;"
pattern_for_parameters = "[^=;]+=[^=;]+;"
pattern_for_parameter_name = "[^=;]="
pattern_for_parameter_val = "[^=;];"
' Loop through the elements of the array
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To UBound(substring_array) - LBound(substring_array)
' Get the array element in a string
str1 = substring_array(i)
' Check if it contains a structure name
regex.Pattern = pattern_for_structure_name
Set matches = regex.Execute(str1)
If matches.Count = 0 Then
' This substring does not contain a structure name
' Check if it contains parameters
regex.Pattern = pattern_for_parameter
Set matches = regex.Execute(matches(0).Value)
If matches.Count = 0 Then
' There are no parameters as well as no structure name
' This means the string had || - invalid string
MsgBox ("Invalid string")
Else
' The string contains parameter names
' Add each parameter name to the dictionary
Dim my_match As match
For Each my_match In matches
' Get the name of the parameter
regex.Pattern = pattern_for_parameter_name
Set parameter_name_matches = regex.Execute(my_match.Value)
' Check if the above returned any matches
If parameter_name_matches.Count = 1 Then
' Remove = sign from the parameter name
parameter_name = Replace(parameter_name_matches(0).Value, "=", "")
' Get the value of the parameter
regex.Pattern = pattern_for_parameter_value
Set parameter_value_matches = regex.Execute(my_match.Value)
' Check if the above returned any matches
If parameter_value_matches.Count = 1 Then
' Get the value
parameter_value = Replace(parameter_value_matches(0).Value, ";", "")
' Add the parameter name and value as a key pair to the Dictionary object
dict.Item(parameter_name) = parameter_value
Else
' Number of matches is either 0 or greater than 1 - in both cases the string is invalid
MsgBox ("Invalid string")
End If
Else
' Parameter name did not match - invalid string
MsgBox ("Invalid string")
End If
Next
End If
ElseIf matches.Count = 1 Then
' This substring contains a single structure name
' Check if it has parameter names
Else
' This substring contains more than one structure name - the original string is invalid
MsgBox ("Invalid string")
End If
Next i
End Sub
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
I am using VB 9.0 to split a text file and then count occurrences of the term <sequence>. Supposing I want also to count occurrences of the same term in a different format, e.g. <sequence and then group them together such that I output the result to a text box, i.e.
txtMyTerms.Text=<sequence>+<sequence
How to do it? My current code is as follows:
Dim str As String = txtSource.Text
Dim arr As String() = str.Split(Nothing)
Dim searchTerm As String = "<sequence>"
'create query to search for the term <sequence>
Dim matchQuery = From word In arr Where word.ToLowerInvariant() = searchTerm.ToLowerInvariant() Select word
' Count the matches.
Dim count As Integer = matchQuery.Count()
txtMyTerms.Text = count.ToString()
I would try something like this. Note that string.Compare is more efficient than repeatedly calling ToLowerInvariant().
Dim str As String = txtSource.Text
Dim arr As String() = str.Split(Nothing)
Dim searchTerm1 As String = "<sequence>"
Dim searchTerm2 As String = "<sequence"
'create query to search for the term <sequence>
Dim matchQuery = From word In arr Where word.Compare(searchTerm1, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase) == 0 Or word.Compare(searchTerm2, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase) == 0 Select word
' Count the matches.
Dim count As Integer = matchQuery.Count()
txtMyTerms.Text = count.ToString()