Skip to main content
P
Phamalda
Participating Frequently
January 29, 2020
Answered

Cold Fusion - Remove characters from a string

  • January 29, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 1955 views

Good afternoon all. I am working on a process that pulls in lines from a file one at a time. Each string is basically a list of tilde delimited values. Some of these values can vary in length or be NULL. I need to remove a few of those tildes with NULL values between them. For instace, my string may look something like the line below. I need to remove all but one of the tildes in that group at the end.

 

I have worked with ListDeleteAt() and tried to hit particular position number but that didn't quite work the way I'd hoped. I also worked with RemoveChars() a bit but those tildes are a different spot in each line. I am currently using the following but there may be a string of NULLs before the group I need to remove:

 

          <cfset row = replace(row,"~~~~~~~~~","~","ONE")>

 

Any help would be appreciated. 

 

MEPMD01~2POOP519~03092019113800PM~6480081580~~~1224714818389~OK~E~KWH~~000015~48~03092019124500AM~00~0.3414~00~0.3396~00~0.1182~00~0.0552~00~0.069~00~0.0642~~~~~~~~~00~0.0606~00~0.081

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer WolfShade

REreplace() will do it.

 

<cfset thisStr = REreplace(thisStr,"~+","~","all") />

 

HTH,

 

^ _ ^

 

UPDATE:  I'll explain.  It's a regular expression replace.  ~+ means "one or more tilde"; when it finds a tilde, it replaces it with a tilde; if it finds several tilde, it replaces them all with a tilde.  "all" scope means the entire string.

 

UPDATE2:  If you are concerned about efficiency, you can have it replace _ONLY_ when two or more are consecutive.

 

 

<cfset thisStr = REreplace(thisStr,"~{2,}","~","all") />

 

{2,} means "two or more".

1 reply

WolfShade
WolfShadeCorrect answer
Legend
January 30, 2020

REreplace() will do it.

 

<cfset thisStr = REreplace(thisStr,"~+","~","all") />

 

HTH,

 

^ _ ^

 

UPDATE:  I'll explain.  It's a regular expression replace.  ~+ means "one or more tilde"; when it finds a tilde, it replaces it with a tilde; if it finds several tilde, it replaces them all with a tilde.  "all" scope means the entire string.

 

UPDATE2:  If you are concerned about efficiency, you can have it replace _ONLY_ when two or more are consecutive.

 

 

<cfset thisStr = REreplace(thisStr,"~{2,}","~","all") />

 

{2,} means "two or more".

P
PhamaldaAuthor
Participating Frequently
January 30, 2020

Thank you so much for that. I looked at the REreplace() function but wasn't sure of the syntax that would work. I'll see what I can do with this. This puts me on a great path. Thanks again.

WolfShade
WolfShade
Legend
January 31, 2020

You're welcome.  Glad to help.  And if what I offered turns out to be the correct answer, please mark my response as such, so that it can help others who might face the same issue.  If not, then let me know and I'll help as best I can.

 

If you are not familiar with Regular Expressions, they are definitely worth learning.  I know only a fraction of what they can do, but even that small amount has paid off in buckets.

 

V/r,

 

^ _ ^

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices