Str2Mat

The Str2Mat Internal Function will split a string variable based on a delimiter and place the resulting strings into an array which STR2MAT dynamically re-dimensions.

str2mat(xxx$, mat zzz$, delimiter$)

The default delimiter searches for the following combinations of line feed and carriage return characters:

• line feed carriage return
• carriage return line feed
• line feed
• carriage return

When more than one occurrence of the same delimiters are used next to each other, BR honors all of them making an emptry string element in the resulting array for all but the first occurrence of the delimiter. Consider the following example:

00010 str2mat("abcdeeeefghijk",mat a$,"e")
00020 print mat a$

Output:

abcd
 


fghijk

Notice, that 3 empty strings are printed - one less than the number of "e" in the string "abcdeeeefghijk".

If the delimiter is "", every character will be put in a separate element of the array.

Str2Mat performs the opposite action of Mat2Str

Str2Mat returns the number of items which were parsed in to the dynamically redimensioned array (mat a$).

Introduced in version 4.20 of Business Rules!.

CSV and XML Parsing Enhancements

These enhancements are available as of BR! 4.3.

The string to mat and mat to string functions have been extended to ease parsing of CSV and XML data.

STR2MAT( str$, MAT zzz$ [, [MAT] Sep$ [, flags$]] )

Where Sep$ may be an array and flag$ is in the format:

[ quote-type ] [ :LTRM ] | [ :TRIM ] | [ :RTRM ]

Where quote-type can be Q, QUOTES, ('), or ("), case insensitive. Q and QUOTES denote standard BR quote processing. The trim flags denote post processing of extracted elements and the leading colon is only present when quote-type is specified. When Sep$ is an array, then any or all of the specified values are deemed to represent a single separator with the qualification that any one separator, cannot occur more than once in a string of adjacent separators. To restate this, when elements of a Sep$ array occur adjacent to each other within the source string, they are grouped as a separator substring.

Sep$ elements cannot occur more than once in a separator substring. When they do, it denotes the specification of a null element. e.g. two successive commas or two successive occurrences of CR+LF both denote null elements. Essentially when Sep$ elements are 'consumed' by their recognition within the source string, then they cannot be re-recognized without inserting a null element into the output array.

CSV Parsing Enhancements

Parsing CSV data files is now quite easy, the following code spinet demonstrates how to open a CSV/Tab File, read in the fields from the header, and then loop through the records.

01000    dim CSV_LINE$*999,CSV_FILE$*256, CSV_DELIM$*1,CSV_HEADER$*999,CSV_FIELDS$(1)*40,CSV_DATA$(1)*60
01020    form C," "
01040    let CSV_FILE$="Sample_File.tab" : let TAB$=CHR$(9)
01060    open #(CSV_HANDLE:=10): "name="&CSV_FILE$&",shr",display,input 
01080    linput #CSV_HANDLE: CSV_HEADER$
01100    let CSV_DELIM$=TAB$
01120    if POS(CSV_HEADER$,TAB$) <= 0 then 
01140       let CSV_DELIM$=","
01160    end if 
01180    let STR2MAT(CSV_HEADER$,MAT CSV_FIELDS$,CSV_DELIM$,"QUOTES:TRIM")
01200    print using 1020: MAT CSV_FIELDS$
01220    do 
01240       linput #CSV_HANDLE: CSV_LINE$ eof Exit_Csv
01260       let STR2MAT(CSV_LINE$,MAT CSV_DATA$,CSV_DELIM$,"Q:trim")
01280       print using 1020: MAT CSV_DATA$
01300    loop 
01320 Exit_Csv: !

You might wish to copy any CSV file to Sample_File.tab and run this program to view the content.

XML Parsing Enhancements

STR2MAT may also be used to Parse XML data.

This is a bit more complex than parsing CSV files, but remains a powerful tool.

The following example will parse XML$ into "MAT XML_LINE$"

 10 DIM XML$*999999,XML_LINE$(1)*32000
 20 XML$="<XML><NODE><ITEM>ITEM VALUE</ITEM></NODE></XML>"
 100 LET Str2mat(XML$,Mat XML_LINE$,">","TRIM")

This makes the parsing of XML a bit more convenient. The following XML sample shows how the function will parse the data

 <XML>
  <NODE>
    <ITEM>ITEM VALUE</ITEM>
  </NODE>
 </XML>

 <XML
 <NODE
 <ITEM
 ITEM VALUE</ITEM
 </NODE
 </XML

While the above technique is useful, a more complete and useful technique can be performed if the Node names are known. You may use an array of SEP$ values to parse the data. Take the following example:

100    dim XML$*999999,XML_LINE$(1)*32000,SEP$(4)*32
110    let XML$="<XML><NODE><ITEM>ITEM VALUE</ITEM><ITEM2>ITEM2 VALUE</ITEM2></NODE></XML>"
120    read MAT SEP$
130    data </XML>,</NODE>,</ITEM>,</ITEM2>
140    let STR2MAT(XML$,MAT XML_LINE$,MAT SEP$,"TRIM")
150    print MAT XML_LINE$

This program would return the following results:

 <XML><NODE><ITEM>ITEM VALUE
 <ITEM2>ITEM2 VALUE

Notice that "Nested Nodes" are listed before the initial data, this may be used to identify the node.

Quote Processing

Quotation marks suppress the recognition of separators in accordance with the following rules. Standard BR Quote Processing When examining str$ left to right, the first character (and the first character after each separator) is checked to see if is either (') or ("). If it is ether of those then it activates quotation processing which suppresses the recognition of separators until quotation processing is deactivated. The first character thus becomes the governing quote type until quotation processing is deactivated.

The string is copied until it ends or until an odd number of successive occurrences of the governing quote type is encountered. During this processing, two adjacent occurrences of the governing quote character denote an embedded occurrence of the quote character. Examples

• "abc,def" -> abc,def where the comma is not recognized as a separator and is part of the data
• abc"def -> abc"def naturally embedded quotes may occur anywhere within a string after the first character
• "abc"def" -> abcdef" quotation processing is deactivated by the center quote mark
• "abcdef" -> abcdef normal data
• "abc'def" -> abc'def the single quote is treated like any other character while double quotes govern
• 'abc"def' -> abc"def double quotes are treated like any other character while single quotes govern
• "abc""def" -> abc"def pairs of governing quotes denote a single embedded quote
• "abc"""def" -> abc"def" the third successive occurence deactivates quote processing

MAT2STR( MAT zzz$, str$ [, sep$ [, flags$]] )

Where flag$ is in the format:

[ quote-type ] [ :LTRM ] | [ :TRIM ] | [ :RTRM ]

Where quote-type can be Q, QUOTES, ('), or ("), case insensitive. Quote-type denotes that each element should be enclosed in quotation marks. The trim flags denote pre-processing of array elements and the leading colon is only present when quote-type is specified.

If Q or QUOTES is specified the BR automatically determines which quote type to apply as follows: First the element is unpacked. That is, if it is contained in quotes, the quotes are stripped and embedded pairs are singled. Next the element is scanned left to right for either type of quote character ( single or double ). If a quote character is encountered the element is enclosed in the alternate quote type and embedded occurrences of that quote type are doubled. If no quote character is encountered then double quotes are applied.

Examples
Quote Type is Q or QUOTES
abcdef -> "abcdef"
abc'def -> "abc'def"
abc"def -> 'abc"def'
abc""def -> 'abc""def'   embedded quotes are left intact when quotes are not active
'abcdef -> "'abcdef"

Quote Type is ' ( quote type single )
abcdef -> 'abcdef'
'abcdef -> '''abcdef'   single quotes get doubled when embedded in single quotes
"abcdef -> '"abcdef'   leading double quote is treated normally

Quote type double mirrors quote type single. When using MAT2STR on a 2 dimensional array, the first delimiter is used for individual elements and the second delimiter at the end of each row. This principle also applies to three to seven dimensions. Example Given the following two dimensional array zzz$ containing the values-

   1            2
   3            4

The following statements-

   10 Sep$(1)=","
   20 Sep$(2)=hex$("0D0A") ! CRLF
   30 MAT2STR( MAT zzz$, str$, MAT Sep$ )
   40 PRINT str$

Will produce-

   1,2
   3,4