B4P Reference

Function Names

outside, outside exclude, outside until, outside until exclude, voutside, voutside exclude, voutside until, voutside until exclude

Description

This function extracts a outside parts of the string either with two character position numbers or matching patterns or a combination of both. It is the opposite part of the middle ... function family where the middle part is removed the string and the left and right parts of the strings put together.

Vectorization: The function names beginning with the prefix v support vectorization in the 1st function parameter. Instead of providing a single value, you can provide a set or even a nested set which contain multiple values. The function will then process every value and its return value contains a corresponding set containing all results.
Note:For these functions, you need add the prefix letter 'v' in front of the function name. Otherwise the function recognizes a set and attempts to process sets and not strings. See outside [set function] for the corresponding set function.

outside:Returns outside part of string until specified character number (1 = 1st character) or first matching string
outside last match:Returns outside part of string until last first matching string
outside include: Like outside, but matching string is included in returned string
outside last match include: Like outside last match, but matching string is included in returned string
voutside:Like outside, vectorization applies if a set with strings is provided instead of a string.
voutside last match:Like outside last match, vectorization applies if a set with strings is provided instead of a string.
voutside include:Like outside include, vectorization applies if a set with strings is provided instead of a string.
voutside last match include:Like outside last match, vectorization applies if a set with strings is provided instead of a string.

Call as: function

Restrictions

Indirect parameter passing is disabled
Vectorization is allowed in the 1st function parameter

Parameter count

Parameters

No.	Type	Description
1 input	valid types	input string or value(s) Attention: Numerals and dates are converted to strings prior to processing. If 1st parameter is a set: If the function name starts with the v prefix, the vectorization applies. Provide multiple values in a (nested) set to process all of them at once. Otherwise, please refer to outside [set function] instead. Values of types other than string will be converted to strings first.
2 input	numeral	starting character position Positive: First part of the string ends before the specified character position (0 = blank, 1 = ends after 1st character, etc.) Larger than character count: Entire string is returned. Negative: Starting position counted from right to left, e.g. -1 = First part of the string ends before the last character Smaller than minus number of characters in the string: Begins with 1st character The function name ending '... include' will be ignored here.
Alt. 2 input	string	starting matching pattern Function outside ...: First part of the string ends including the starting matching pattern. Function outside exclude ...: First part of the string ends before the starting matching pattern. Empty matching pattern: First part of the string is blank. Matching patterns are case-sensitive. Attention: The matching pattern parameter distinguishes between strings and softquoted strings. In softquoted strings, following wildcard symbols act as placeholders: '?' for any character, '#' for any digit and '^' for any letter.
3 input	numeral	character count or ending character position For function names outside and outside exclude, this parameter specifies the number of characters to skip before incling the 2nd part of string. Zero: No characters to skip. Entire string is returned. Negative numbers are treated as zero. Large character counts going beyond the end of the input string results to no 2nd part of the string included For function names outside until and outside until include, this parameter specifies the ending position in the input string and is seen as starting point for the 2nd part of the string. Character positions before the starting position of found pattern will return empty strings or at least the string matched with the matching pattern (applicable to middle until include). Negative position numbers count from the last character position leftward.
Alt. 3 input	string	ending matching pattern Function outside ...: outside part of the string includes the ending matching pattern. Function outside exclude ...: outside part of the string excludes the ending matching pattern. Attention: The function names ending outside until combined with matching patterns provided will assert errors. Attention: The matching pattern parameter distinguishes between strings and softquoted strings. In softquoted strings, following wildcard symbols act as placeholders: '?' for any character, '#' for any digit and '^' for any letter.

Return value

Type	Description
string set	Extracted substring(s) In case vectorization has been applied, then the resulting strings are returned inside a (nested) set.

Examples

               st[] = "The taste of the coffee!";



               echo( outside( st[], 13, 4 ), " / ",  outside until ( st[], 4, -8 ) );

               echo( outside( st[], 99, 1 ), " / ",  outside until ( st[],  99, 8 ) ); // full strings

               echo( outside( st[], -99, 8 ), " / ", outside until ( st[], -99, 8 ) ); // Begins at 0



               echo;

               echo( outside( st[], ' taste', 7 ), " / ", outside exclude( st[], 'taste ', 7 ) ); // "of the coffee", "tast of the coffee"

               echo( outside( st[], ' taste', 0 ), " / ", outside exclude( st[], 'taste ', 0 ) ); // full string, and without taste

               echo;

               echo( outside ( st[], 'taste', ' the' ), " / ", outside exclude( st[], 'taste ', 'the ' ) ); //

Output

The taste of coffee! / The coffee!
The taste of the coffee! / The taste of the coffee!
e of the coffee! /  of the coffee!

The taste coffee! / The coffee!
The taste of the coffee! / The taste of the coffee!

The taste the coffee! / The coffee!

Try it yourself: Open LIB_Function_outside.b4p in B4P_Examples.zip. Decompress before use.

outside ... (string function)