DOCUMENT:Q146221  05-FEB-2000  [foxpro]
TITLE   :How to Use Wildcards in a String Search Routine
PRODUCT :Microsoft FoxPro
PROD/VER:WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbcode

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b 
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SUMMARY
=======

FoxPro includes several functions, such as AT(), that you can use to determine
if a string is contained within another string. However, no native function
exists that will use wildcards in the string to be searched for in the larger
string. This article shows by example how to search for a string containing
wildcards within a larger string.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Sample Code
-----------

   FUNCTION wcardfind
   PARAMETER srchstr, wildcard, longstr
   STORE 0    TO ifoundat
   STORE LEN(longstr) TO ilongstrlen
   STORE LEN(ALLT(srchstr)) TO isrchstrlen
   STORE ilongstrlen - isrchstrlen TO ilastoffset
   STORE isrchstrlen - LEN(ALLT(STRTRAN(srchstr, wildcard, ""))) ;
      TO inumwcards
   STORE .F. TO lfound
   STORE 0   TO isrchoffset
   STORE (ilongstrlen > isrchstrlen) AND ;
      (LEN(wildcard)=1) AND (isrchstrlen>0) TO ok
   DO WHILE (! isrchoffset > ilastoffset) AND (! lfound) AND ok
      STORE 0 TO imatch
      FOR LOOP = 1 TO isrchstrlen
         IF ASC(SUBSTR(srchstr,LOOP,1)) = ;
              ASC(SUBSTR(longstr,LOOP+isrchoffset,1))
            imatch=imatch+1
         ENDIF
      ENDFOR
      IF imatch+inumwcards = isrchstrlen
         lfound = .T.
         ifoundat = isrchoffset+1
      ELSE
         isrchoffset=isrchoffset+1
      ENDIF
   ENDDO
   RETURN IIF(lfound,ifoundat,0)

Testing the Function
--------------------

Place the following code before the above function in a program file to test the
function. The value returned in the wait window should be 4:

      x1="d?f"
      x2="?"
      x3="abcdefgh"
      xresult=wcardfind(x1,x2,x3)
      wait wind str(xresult)

Additional query words: VFoxWin

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Keywords          : kbcode 
Technology        : kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbVFP300 kbVFP300b
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b

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