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Neo
Neo
Level VI

Can I use Contains () with wildcard?

I have a list as an output from a JSL script. The list is of the form

 

{"John.01.02", "John.01.02 2"," John.01.02 3", "John.01.02 4", "John.01.02 5 Distribution", "John.01.02 6 Distribution", "John.01.02 7 Distribution", "John.01.02 8 - Graph Builder", "John.01.02 9 - Graph Builder", "John.01.02 10 - Graph Builder"}

I want to do an operation if  the word "Distribution" appears in above list and another operation if  the word "Graph Builder" occurs while looping through the items in the list. I am thinking of using the contains() function on the lines of

if (Contains(list, "Distribution"),

,do something);
else do something else.

However, I am unable to select the correct list items within the list and was wondering if I can use a wildcard and write on the lines of 

if (Contains(list, "Distribution*"),

which clearly does not work.

If a wildcard is possible within the contains() function what is the syntax?

If not, how to achieve the operations I am am looking for?

 

When it's too good to be true, it's neither
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
txnelson
Super User

Re: Can I use Contains () with wildcard?

Using Contains() to search through a list, will find only complete matches.  However, searching through a string, using a Contains() it will find strings that have the search criteria anywhere within the string.   So you can get what you want with the method in the following script

Names Default To Here( 1 );
theList = {"John.01.02", "John.01.02 2", " John.01.02 3", "John.01.02 4",
"John.01.02 5 Distribution", "John.01.02 6 Distribution", "John.01.02 7 Distribution",
"John.01.02 8 - Graph Builder", "John.01.02 9 - Graph Builder", "John.01.02 10 - Graph Builder"};
For( i = 1, i <= N Items( theList ), i++,
	If( Contains( theList[i], "Distribution" ),
		Break()
	)
);
If( i <= N Items( theList ),
	Show( theList[i] )
);
Jim

View solution in original post

1 REPLY 1
txnelson
Super User

Re: Can I use Contains () with wildcard?

Using Contains() to search through a list, will find only complete matches.  However, searching through a string, using a Contains() it will find strings that have the search criteria anywhere within the string.   So you can get what you want with the method in the following script

Names Default To Here( 1 );
theList = {"John.01.02", "John.01.02 2", " John.01.02 3", "John.01.02 4",
"John.01.02 5 Distribution", "John.01.02 6 Distribution", "John.01.02 7 Distribution",
"John.01.02 8 - Graph Builder", "John.01.02 9 - Graph Builder", "John.01.02 10 - Graph Builder"};
For( i = 1, i <= N Items( theList ), i++,
	If( Contains( theList[i], "Distribution" ),
		Break()
	)
);
If( i <= N Items( theList ),
	Show( theList[i] )
);
Jim