Microsoft KB Archive/138774

= ACC: How to Strip Specific Characters from a String =

Article ID: 138774

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 1.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 1.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q138774



Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.



SUMMARY
This article shows you how to create a custom function to strip invalid characters, or characters that you do not want, from a string. You can use this function in queries and in text input boxes.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.

NOTE: Visual Basic for Applications is called Access Basic in Microsoft Access versions 1.x and 2.0. For more information about Access Basic, please refer to the "Introduction to Programming" manual in Microsoft Access version 1.x or the "Building Applications" manual in Microsoft Access version 2.0



MORE INFORMATION
To strip invalid characters, or characters that you do not want, from a string, follow these steps:

 Create a new module and type the following line in the Declarations section if it's not already there:

Option Explicit

  Type the following procedure: ' --     ' Function StripString '     ' Returns a string minus a set of specified chars. ' --     Function StripString(MyStr As Variant) As Variant On Error GoTo StripStringError

Dim strChar As String, strHoldString As String Dim i As Integer

' Exit if the passed value is null. If IsNull(MyStr) Then Exit Function

' Exit if the passed value is not a string. If VarType(MyStr) <> 8 Then Exit Function

' Check each value for invalid characters. For i = 1 To Len(MyStr) strChar = Mid$(MyStr, i, 1) Select Case strChar Case ".", "#", ",", "-" ' Do nothing Case Else strHoldString = strHoldString & strChar End Select Next i

' Pass back corrected string. StripString = strHoldString

StripStringEnd: Exit Function

StripStringError: MsgBox Error$ Resume StripStringEnd End Function  To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window (or Immediate window in versions 1.x or 2.0), and then press ENTER:

?StripString("Test.#,-")

Note that the function prints the word "Test" in the Debug window. The invalid characters (".#,-") are successfully stripped from the test string.

