Microsoft KB Archive/210227

= ACC2000: How to Strip Specific Characters from a String =

Article ID: 210227

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q210227



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

This article applies to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb) and to a Microsoft Access project (.adp).



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.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.



MORE INFORMATION
To strip invalid characters or characters that you do not want from a string, follow these steps:   Create a module and type the following line in the Declarations section if it is 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 Immediate window, and then press ENTER: ? StripString("Test.#,-") Note that the function prints the word "Test" in the Immediate window. The invalid characters (".#,-") are successfully stripped from the test string. 

