Grep ( pattern ; text )

Perform simple matching of text lines, similar to the traditional grep tool.

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Chris Irvine - Show more from this author
Threeprong.com LLC
https://threeprong.com

Sample input:

Grep ( "Ipsum" ; $large_text )

Sample output:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
ipsum cursus elementum.

Function definition: (Copy & paste into FileMaker's Edit Custom Function window)

/**
 * =====================================
 * Grep ( pattern ; text )
 *
 * RETURNS:
 *         Lines in text that contain pattern (type Text - List of values)
 *
 * PARAMETERS:
 *     pattern - A simple substring for searching
 *     text - Multiple lines of text to search through
 *
 * DEPENDENCIES: FileMaker ≥18.0
 *
 * NOTES:
 *    This function provides only simple pattern matching and does not handle specialized operators or regex.
 *    Pattern matching is not case or word-break sensitive, and follows behavior of Position()
 *    Any line breaks in text are allowed, so long as they are recognized by GetValue()
 *    Line breaks in output are set by List() and no additional ¶ is added after the last line of output.
 *
 * EXAMPLES:
 * 
 *     Given $sample is...
 *     
 *         Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
 *         consectetur adipiscing elit.
 *         Aenean mollis nibh vitae
 *         ipsum cursus elementum.
 *         Duis porta lacus quis urna
 *         aliquet tincidunt.
 *     
 *     Grep ( "Ipsum" ; $sample ) will return...
 *   
 *         Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
 *         ipsum cursus elementum.
 * 
 * HISTORY:
 *     CREATED on 2022-07-20 by Chris Irvine <chris@threeprong.com>
 *
 * MIT No Attribution
 * 
 * Copyright (c) 2022 Threeprong.com LLC
 * 
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this
 * software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software
 * without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify,
 * merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
 * permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so.
 * 
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
 * INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
 * PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
 * HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
 * OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
 * SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. * =====================================
 */

While ( 
    [
        ~line_no = 1 ;
        ~output = "" ;
        ~limit = ValueCount ( text )
    ] ;
    ~line_no ≤ ~limit ;
    [
        ~line_text = GetValue ( text ; ~line_no ) ;
        ~output = If ( Position ( ~line_text ; pattern ; 1 ; 1 ) ;
            /* then */
                List ( ~output ; ~line_text ) ;
            /* else */
                ~output
            ) ;
        ~line_no = ~line_no + 1
    ] ;
    ~output
)

Assuming you have a block of text, you may only be interested in processing lines which contain a certain value or phrase, ignoring other lines.

Use the grep function to filter only those relevant lines into a new string. The entire line is retained if the pattern is found anywhere in that line.

Function uses while() instead of recursion, which should support almost any amount of text, though you might need to utilize SetRecursion(). As a result, this function requires v18.0 or higher.

Comments

		belg4mit Aug 3, 2022
See FilterList https://www.briandunning.com/cf/771 for a generalized function that also covers grep -i and -v, etc.

Note: these functions are not guaranteed or supported by BrianDunning.com. Please contact the individual developer with any questions or problems.

Grep ( pattern ; text )

Comments

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