topic Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter in Discussions

Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

lakepotter — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:26:34 GMT

Hello all,

I'm trying to manipulate my column names. It's very easy to do once or twice with Find/Replace but I'd like to script it.

Essentially, I want to change a column name from "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/B cells/A+B+C-,Freq. of Parent" to "B cells/A+B+C-,Freq. of Parent".

Here is my current code:

dt = Current Data Table ();

colList = dt << get column names(string);

For ( i = 1, i <= N Items(colList), i++, 
	If (
		contains(colList[i], "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/"), 
	
		Column(dt, colList[i]) << set name (Word(2, colList[i], "Lymphocytes/"))		
));

If I run parts of this code individually, here's what I get:

line of code:

result in script log

colList[i]:
"Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/B cells/A+B+C-,Freq. of Parent"


contains(colList[i], "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/"):
1

Word(2, colList[i], "Lymphocytes/"):
"iv"

Word(3, colList[i], "Lymphocytes/"):
" l"

Word(4, colList[i], "Lymphocytes/"):
"uk"

Word(9, colList[i], "Lymphocytes/"):
"f Par"

Clearly, my delimiter isn't working the way I expect it to. Any ideas?

I originally tried to do Words(4, colList[i], "/") but that only gave me "B cells" since there is another / immediately after that. Unlike other programming languages, I don't know if there is a way to specify '4th word and then everything afterwards until the end' in JSL. I don't think this is possible so I changed the delimiter, thinking that would solve my problem.

Thanks so much for any advice!!

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

Mark_Bailey — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:57:12 GMT

Use "/" for the delimiter. Also, use the Words() function instead. You will get a list. You can then concatenate list items. In this case the new string will be list[5] || list[5].

Pretty easy, eh?

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

Mark_Bailey — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:58:46 GMT

See Help > Scripting Index > Functions > Character > Words

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

lakepotter — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:34:08 GMT

What if I have an unequal number of list items? This one would be list[4]||" "||list[5] but if I have 6 items in my list and I want it to go to the end...

I'm trying to pseudocode some for loops that go over N items but haven't gotten it yet.

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

lakepotter — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:34:40 GMT

Also, do you know why the original code doesn't work?

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

Mark_Bailey — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:52:08 GMT

Use N Items( list ) to determine how many levels exist and take the ones from the end.

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

Mark_Bailey — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:53:36 GMT

The delimiter is a character, not a character string.

You might also find regular expressions useful in this problem.

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

pmroz — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 13:24:39 GMT

One confusion is that the delimiter argument to the WORDS function means split this text if you find ANY of these characters.

This approach may get you closer to what you want:

collist = {};
collist[1] = "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/B cells/A+B+C-,Freq. of Parent";
collist[2] = "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/Another Text";
collist[3] = "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/Hello World";
remove_text = "Singlets/Live leukocytes/Lymphocytes/";
len_text    = length(remove_text);
for (i = 1, i <= nitems(collist), i++,
	start_pos = contains(colList[i], remove_text);
	if (start_pos,
		end_pos = start_pos + len_text;
		new_name = substr(collist[i], end_pos);
		show(new_name);
		Column(dt, colList[i]) << set name (new_name);
	);
);

Re: Confusion using word( ) function and specified delimiter

lakepotter — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 17:18:55 GMT

OH! Okay, that also makes one of the examples in the scripting guide make MUCH more sense!!

I ended up using substr to my advantage! I'll post code after lunch!