How can I escape "=" as part of a column name?

[#1]

How can I escape "=" as part of a column name?

I need to implement a "select where" statement and I am building it as a string, which involves multiple column names. But when it evaluates it is attempting to interpret the "=" as an assignment. My column names are like: "COND=TEMP".

Below the section of the script I use:

select_string = ":Test Name == benchNameToCompare";

//For each column in the map table, if the column name is a COND add it to the select criteria

For( j = 1, j <= numOfColumns, j++,

Current Data Table(correlationMapTable);

currentColumnName = correlationMapTable<<Get Column Names();

If(Contains(currentColumnName[j],"COND_")>0,

theValue = currentColumnName[j][i];

colName=currentColumnName[j];

select_string = select_string || " & As Column(correlationMapTable," || char(currentColumnName[j]) || ") == " || char(currentColumnName[j][i]);

);

);

select_string = "benchDataTable << select where(" || select_string || ")";

eval(parse(select_string)); //Here is complains if I have "=" as part of the column name.

benchDataTable << Subset(( Selected Rows ), Output Table Name("Filtered Bench Table"));

Thanks in advance!

[#2]

I'll be honest, this script has a lot of issues.  My head hurts just thinking about debugging it.

So I'm not going to, but essentially your issue is this:

= doesn't need to be escaped what you need to escape is parenthesis​ ​quotation marks.  AKA:

eval(parse("dt << Select Where(Column("Cond=Temp") == 2)"));

needs to become:

eval(parse("dt << Select Where(Column(\!"Cond=Temp\!") == 2)"));

[#3]

Hello msharp,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. So could you clarify that the required escape sequence is \! <column name goes here> \! ?

As a C# programmer, my head hurts a lot just learning JSL :-)

Regards,

B

[#4]

Hey, breinoso,

Yeah, I have not been around long enough to know the origin of the escape characters in JSL, but they indeed start out with "\!".  To insert a newline in a string, it's "\!n".  To prevent a quote from being seen by JMP as the end of a string, make it \!".  (And I think msharp meant to say "what you need to escape is ​quotation marks​").

And, yes, coming from other languages to JSL can be a little off-putting ;-).

HTH,

Eric

[#5]

Yes, quotation marks.  Thanks for the catch.

To learn more about escape characters and the nuances of JSL, you can reference the Scripting Guide which is really well put together.  Help>>Books>>Scripting Guide.  (Escape characters are on p.87).  If you are just wondering about syntax the Scripting Index is more helpful.  Help>>Scripting Index.

A couple things to point out,

For numbers in If() statements, JSL responds truthy to anything other than 0.  So If(Contains(currentColumnName[j],"COND_")>0,  is the same as If(Contains(currentColumnName[j],"COND_"),

This:

//For each column in the map table, if the column name is a COND add it to the select criteria

For( j = 1, j <= numOfColumns, j++,

Current Data Table(correlationMapTable);

currentColumnName = correlationMapTable<<Get Column Names();

If(Contains(currentColumnName[j],"COND_")>0,

theValue = currentColumnName[j][i];

colName=currentColumnName[j];

would be better written:

//For each column in the map table, if the column name is a COND add it to the select criteria

For( j = 1, j <= numOfColumns, j++,

colName = Column(correlationMapTable, j) <<Get Name;

If(Contains(colName,"COND_"),