Code archives/Algorithms/Handy string parsing function

'Parse string function demo
'  By:Andy Amaya
'Date:2007.02.11

'Purpose for parse$() function:
'	To allow user to extract words or groups of symbols using
'	the delimiter best suited to the task at hand.

crLf$ = Chr$(13)+Chr$(10)
separator$ = crLf$+"==========================================================="+crLf$

'===================================================
'Parse string using the "comma" character
'	Possible Use: read data in comma separated value file
'===================================================
Print parse$("Now,is,the,time,for,all,good,men,to,come,to,the,aid,of,their,country.",7,",")
Print separator$

'===================================================
'Parse string using default delimiter of "space" character
'	Possible Use: count number of words in a text file
'===================================================
Print parse$("The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.",9)
Print separator$

'===================================================
'Parse string using "period" character
'	Possible Use: break out IP address
'===================================================
For x = 1 To 4
	Print parse$("127.0.0.1",x,".")
Next
Print separator$

'===================================================
'Parse string using "backslash" character
'	Possible Use: break out path & filename info
'===================================================
For x = 1 To 200
	result$ = parse$("C:\Program Files\BlitzPlus\Parse string function demo.bb",x,"\")
	If result$ <> "" Then Print result$	Else Exit
Next
Print separator$

a$ = Input("Press [ENTER] to Exit.")
End

Function parse$(string2Chk$, n, delimiter$=" ")
	'initialize local variables
	Local count% = 0
	Local findDelimiter% = 0
	Local position% = 1
	Local current$ = ""
	''n' must be greater than zero
	'otherwise exit function and return null string
	If n > 0 Then
		'strip leading and trailing spaces
		string2Chk$  = Trim(string2Chk$)
		'find the word(s)
		Repeat
			'first check if the delimiter occurs in string2Chk$
			findDelimiter% = Instr(string2Chk$,delimiter$,position)
			If findDelimiter <> 0 Then
				'extract current word in string2Chk$
				current$ = Mid$(string2Chk$,position,findDelimiter-position)
				'word extracted' increment counter
				count = count + 1
				'update the start position of the next pass
				position = findDelimiter + 1
				'if counter is same as n then exit loop
				If count = n Then findDelimiter = 0
			End If
		Until findDelimiter = 0
		'Special Case: only one word and no delimiter(s) or last word in string2Chk$
		If (count < n) And (position <= Len(string2Chk$)) Then
			current$ = Mid$(string2Chk$,position, Len(string2Chk$) - position+1)
			count = count + 1
			'looking for word that is beyond length of string2Chk$
			If count < n Then current$ = ""
		End If
	End If
	Return current$
End Function

;'Parse string function demo