Is there an inverse function of *SysUtils.Format* in Delphi

Question

Has anyone written an 'UnFormat' routine for Delphi?

What I'm imagining is the inverse of SysUtils.Format and looks something like this

UnFormat('a number %n and another %n',[float1, float2]);

So you could unpack a string into a series of variables using format strings.

I've looked at the 'Format' routine in SysUtils, but I've never used assembly so it is meaningless to me.

Answer 1

This is called scanf in C, I've made a Delphi look-a-like for this :

function ScanFormat(const Input, Format: string; Args: array of Pointer): Integer;
var
  InputOffset: Integer;
  FormatOffset: Integer;
  InputChar: Char;
  FormatChar: Char;

  function _GetInputChar: Char;
  begin
    if InputOffset <= Length(Input) then
    begin
      Result := Input[InputOffset];
      Inc(InputOffset);
    end
    else
      Result := #0;
  end;

  function _PeekFormatChar: Char;
  begin
    if FormatOffset <= Length(Format) then
      Result := Format[FormatOffset]
    else
      Result := #0;
  end;

  function _GetFormatChar: Char;
  begin
    Result := _PeekFormatChar;
    if Result <> #0 then
      Inc(FormatOffset);
  end;

  function _ScanInputString(const Arg: Pointer = nil): string;
  var
    EndChar: Char;
  begin
    Result := '';
    EndChar := _PeekFormatChar;
    InputChar := _GetInputChar;
    while (InputChar > ' ')
      and (InputChar <> EndChar) do
    begin
      Result := Result + InputChar;
      InputChar := _GetInputChar;
    end;

    if InputChar <> #0 then
      Dec(InputOffset);

    if Assigned(Arg) then
      PString(Arg)^ := Result;
  end;

  function _ScanInputInteger(const Arg: Pointer): Boolean;
  var
    Value: string;
  begin
    Value := _ScanInputString;
    Result := TryStrToInt(Value, {out} PInteger(Arg)^);
  end;

  procedure _Raise;
  begin
    raise EConvertError.CreateFmt('Unknown ScanFormat character : "%s"!', [FormatChar]);
  end;

begin
  Result := 0;
  InputOffset := 1;
  FormatOffset := 1;
  FormatChar := _GetFormatChar;
  while FormatChar <> #0 do
  begin
    if FormatChar <> '%' then
    begin
      InputChar := _GetInputChar;
      if (InputChar = #0)
      or (FormatChar <> InputChar) then
        Exit;
    end
    else
    begin
      FormatChar := _GetFormatChar;
      case FormatChar of
        '%':
          if _GetInputChar <> '%' then
            Exit;
        's':
          begin
            _ScanInputString(Args[Result]);
            Inc(Result);
          end;
        'd', 'u':
          begin
            if not _ScanInputInteger(Args[Result]) then
              Exit;

            Inc(Result);
          end;
      else
        _Raise;
      end;
    end;

    FormatChar := _GetFormatChar;
  end;
end;

Answer 2

I know it tends to scare people, but you could write a simple function to do this using regular expressions

'a number (.*?) and another (.*?)

If you are worried about reg expressions take a look at www.regexbuddy.com and you'll never look back.

Answer 3

I tend to take care of this using a simple parser. I have two functions, one is called NumStringParts which returns the number of "parts" in a string with a specific delimiter (in your case above the space) and GetStrPart returns the specific part from a string with a specific delimiter. Both of these routines have been used since my Turbo Pascal days in many a project.

function NumStringParts(SourceStr,Delimiter:String):Integer;
var
  offset : integer;
  curnum : integer;
begin
  curnum := 1;
  offset := 1;
  while (offset <> 0) do
    begin
      Offset := Pos(Delimiter,SourceStr);
      if Offset <> 0 then
        begin
          Inc(CurNum);
            Delete(SourceStr,1,(Offset-1)+Length(Delimiter));
        end;
    end;
  result := CurNum;
end;

function GetStringPart(SourceStr,Delimiter:String;Num:Integer):string;
var
  offset : integer;
  CurNum : integer;
  CurPart : String;
begin
  CurNum := 1;
  Offset := 1;
  While (CurNum <= Num) and (Offset <> 0) do
    begin
      Offset := Pos(Delimiter,SourceStr);
      if Offset <> 0 then
        begin
          CurPart := Copy(SourceStr,1,Offset-1);
          Delete(SourceStr,1,(Offset-1)+Length(Delimiter));
          Inc(CurNum)
        end
      else
        CurPart := SourceStr;
    end;
  if CurNum >= Num then
    Result := CurPart
  else
    Result := '';
end;

Example of usage:

 var
    st : string;
    f1,f2 : double; 
  begin
     st := 'a number 12.35 and another 13.415';
     ShowMessage('Total String parts = '+IntToStr(NumStringParts(st,#32)));
     f1 := StrToFloatDef(GetStringPart(st,#32,3),0.0);
     f2 := StrToFloatDef(GetStringPart(st,#32,6),0.0);
     ShowMessage('Float 1 = '+FloatToStr(F1)+' and Float 2 = '+FloatToStr(F2)); 
  end; 

These routines work wonders for simple or strict comma delimited strings too. These routines work wonderfully in Delphi 2009/2010.