12-08-2022, 08:56 AM
Space, the final frontier, and when you're sick of space on both sides of your string, use _TRIM$.
_TRIM$ simply removes any leading and/or trailing spaces from any string.
SYNTAX: _TRIM$(mytext$) and can also be used as: _TRIM$(" my text ")
_TRIM$ is the QB64 answer to, "What do you get when you put LTRIM$ + RTRIM$ together?" Well, until _TRIM$ came along it was LTRIM$(RTRM$(mystring$)). Note: LTRIM$ removes leading spaces, spaces to the "left" and RTRIM$ removes trailing space, spaces to the right, and _TRIM$ removes both.
If there are no spaces, _TRIM$ simply does nothing.
_TRIM$ can be combined with STR$(), which converts a number to a string and removes the trailing space. So why do we need _TRIM? The answer is to get rid of the leading space the system uses to reserve space for a possible negative sign in front of a number even after STR$() is used to convert it to a string.
So while PRINT STR$(-1) is "-1", PRINT STR$(1) would be " 1". To get rid of that leading space we can code either: PRINT LTRIM$(STR$(1)) or PRINT _TRIM$(STR$(1)). Of course most of the time a number will be represented by a variable, so we usually code: MyNumber = 1: MyNumber$ = _TRIM$(STR$(a)).
Another use is when a DIM statement if made to produce a "fixed" string. A fixed string defines the string length and creates trailing spaces if the string is smaller the dim size created.
Example:
Steve's Spreadsheet
_TRIM$ is often used in parsing routines to compare strings as apples to apples, instead of apples to apples with leading and trailing spaces.
So how about some more use examples? Feel free to post yours...
_TRIM$ simply removes any leading and/or trailing spaces from any string.
SYNTAX: _TRIM$(mytext$) and can also be used as: _TRIM$(" my text ")
_TRIM$ is the QB64 answer to, "What do you get when you put LTRIM$ + RTRIM$ together?" Well, until _TRIM$ came along it was LTRIM$(RTRM$(mystring$)). Note: LTRIM$ removes leading spaces, spaces to the "left" and RTRIM$ removes trailing space, spaces to the right, and _TRIM$ removes both.
If there are no spaces, _TRIM$ simply does nothing.
_TRIM$ can be combined with STR$(), which converts a number to a string and removes the trailing space. So why do we need _TRIM? The answer is to get rid of the leading space the system uses to reserve space for a possible negative sign in front of a number even after STR$() is used to convert it to a string.
So while PRINT STR$(-1) is "-1", PRINT STR$(1) would be " 1". To get rid of that leading space we can code either: PRINT LTRIM$(STR$(1)) or PRINT _TRIM$(STR$(1)). Of course most of the time a number will be represented by a variable, so we usually code: MyNumber = 1: MyNumber$ = _TRIM$(STR$(a)).
Code: (Select All)
a = -1
PRINT "|"; a; "|" ' Has one trailing space.
PRINT "|"; STR$(a); "|" ' Chops the trailing space when converting to a string.
PRINT "|"; _TRIM$(STR$(a)); "|" ' Actually not needed here because of the negative number value.
PRINT
a = 1
PRINT "|"; a; "|" ' Has one leading space and one trailing space.
PRINT "|"; STR$(a); "|" ' Chops the trailing space when converting to a string.
PRINT "|"; _TRIM$(STR$(a)); "|" ' Chops the remaining leading space.Another use is when a DIM statement if made to produce a "fixed" string. A fixed string defines the string length and creates trailing spaces if the string is smaller the dim size created.
Example:
Steve's Spreadsheet
Code: (Select All)
DIM a as STRING * 10 ' All strings named a will be 10 bytes long.
FOR i = 1 TO 3 ' (Not 2 B confused with 1, 2, 3.) :D
READ a
PRINT "|";a;"|", LEN(a)
PRINT "|";_TRIM$(a);"|", LEN(_TRIM$(a)) ' Here we combine _TRIM$ with LEN() to output the length of our trimmed string.
NEXT
' Steve's sheet spreaders...
DATA Horse,Pig,Mule_TRIM$ is often used in parsing routines to compare strings as apples to apples, instead of apples to apples with leading and trailing spaces.
So how about some more use examples? Feel free to post yours...
