Is there an inverse function of *SysUtils.Format* in Delphi - delphi

Question

Has anyone written an 'UnFormat' routine for Delphi?
What I'm imagining is the inverse of SysUtils.Format and looks something like this
UnFormat('a number %n and another %n',[float1, float2]);
So you could unpack a string into a series of variables using format strings.
I've looked at the 'Format' routine in SysUtils, but I've never used assembly so it is meaningless to me.

Answer 1

This is called scanf in C, I've made a Delphi look-a-like for this :
function ScanFormat(const Input, Format: string; Args: array of Pointer): Integer;
var
InputOffset: Integer;
FormatOffset: Integer;
InputChar: Char;
FormatChar: Char;
function _GetInputChar: Char;
begin
if InputOffset <= Length(Input) then
begin
Result := Input[InputOffset];
Inc(InputOffset);
end
else
Result := #0;
end;
function _PeekFormatChar: Char;
begin
if FormatOffset <= Length(Format) then
Result := Format[FormatOffset]
else
Result := #0;
end;
function _GetFormatChar: Char;
begin
Result := _PeekFormatChar;
if Result <> #0 then
Inc(FormatOffset);
end;
function _ScanInputString(const Arg: Pointer = nil): string;
var
EndChar: Char;
begin
Result := '';
EndChar := _PeekFormatChar;
InputChar := _GetInputChar;
while (InputChar > ' ')
and (InputChar <> EndChar) do
begin
Result := Result + InputChar;
InputChar := _GetInputChar;
end;
if InputChar <> #0 then
Dec(InputOffset);
if Assigned(Arg) then
PString(Arg)^ := Result;
end;
function _ScanInputInteger(const Arg: Pointer): Boolean;
var
Value: string;
begin
Value := _ScanInputString;
Result := TryStrToInt(Value, {out} PInteger(Arg)^);
end;
procedure _Raise;
begin
raise EConvertError.CreateFmt('Unknown ScanFormat character : "%s"!', [FormatChar]);
end;
begin
Result := 0;
InputOffset := 1;
FormatOffset := 1;
FormatChar := _GetFormatChar;
while FormatChar <> #0 do
begin
if FormatChar <> '%' then
begin
InputChar := _GetInputChar;
if (InputChar = #0)
or (FormatChar <> InputChar) then
Exit;
end
else
begin
FormatChar := _GetFormatChar;
case FormatChar of
'%':
if _GetInputChar <> '%' then
Exit;
's':
begin
_ScanInputString(Args[Result]);
Inc(Result);
end;
'd', 'u':
begin
if not _ScanInputInteger(Args[Result]) then
Exit;
Inc(Result);
end;
else
_Raise;
end;
end;
FormatChar := _GetFormatChar;
end;
end;

Answer 2

I know it tends to scare people, but you could write a simple function to do this using regular expressions
'a number (.*?) and another (.*?)
If you are worried about reg expressions take a look at www.regexbuddy.com and you'll never look back.

Answer 3

I tend to take care of this using a simple parser. I have two functions, one is called NumStringParts which returns the number of "parts" in a string with a specific delimiter (in your case above the space) and GetStrPart returns the specific part from a string with a specific delimiter. Both of these routines have been used since my Turbo Pascal days in many a project.
function NumStringParts(SourceStr,Delimiter:String):Integer;
var
offset : integer;
curnum : integer;
begin
curnum := 1;
offset := 1;
while (offset <> 0) do
begin
Offset := Pos(Delimiter,SourceStr);
if Offset <> 0 then
begin
Inc(CurNum);
Delete(SourceStr,1,(Offset-1)+Length(Delimiter));
end;
end;
result := CurNum;
end;
function GetStringPart(SourceStr,Delimiter:String;Num:Integer):string;
var
offset : integer;
CurNum : integer;
CurPart : String;
begin
CurNum := 1;
Offset := 1;
While (CurNum <= Num) and (Offset <> 0) do
begin
Offset := Pos(Delimiter,SourceStr);
if Offset <> 0 then
begin
CurPart := Copy(SourceStr,1,Offset-1);
Delete(SourceStr,1,(Offset-1)+Length(Delimiter));
Inc(CurNum)
end
else
CurPart := SourceStr;
end;
if CurNum >= Num then
Result := CurPart
else
Result := '';
end;
Example of usage:
var
st : string;
f1,f2 : double;
begin
st := 'a number 12.35 and another 13.415';
ShowMessage('Total String parts = '+IntToStr(NumStringParts(st,#32)));
f1 := StrToFloatDef(GetStringPart(st,#32,3),0.0);
f2 := StrToFloatDef(GetStringPart(st,#32,6),0.0);
ShowMessage('Float 1 = '+FloatToStr(F1)+' and Float 2 = '+FloatToStr(F2));
end;
These routines work wonders for simple or strict comma delimited strings too. These routines work wonderfully in Delphi 2009/2010.