Output a grammatically correct string

[UAMike]

I am trying to create a macro that takes a string of digits (1-9) input by the user and outputs it as a list in a grammatically correct format (using an Oxford comma if applicable).

 

For example, the user inputs "12345" and the output is is "1, 2, 3, 4, and 5"

"45" => "4 and 5"

"7" => "7"

"389" => "3, 8, and 9"

 

Let's assume that the user only inputs a digit a maximum of one time (ie: no "1123") and would only enter the digits in numerical order (ie: "123", not "321")

 

This is a macro I've wanted to make for a long time and I'm trying to determine what the best approach for creating it would be. Any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated.

[Cory]

What if they need a 2 digit number? I think they would need to have some delimiter between each value in that case. It makes a difference on how I would approach it.

[Cory]

A space would work as a delimiter, E.G. "1 2 3 6 9 13 15".

[UAMike]

19 minutes ago, Cory said:

What if they need a 2 digit number? I think they would need to have some delimiter between each value in that case. It makes a difference on how I would approach it.

I was trying to keep it simple for myself by only have 1 digit numbers, as this would work for my purposes 99% of the time. 

 

My plan was to use statements like: If Variable %string% contains "1" and I realized that this would get misinterpreted if I used two digit numbers. But it sounds like you're suggesting I use a space delimiter... can you give me an example of how this would work?

[Cory]

Sorry, I don't have time to write the macro for you now. And I think it's better for you to try yourself and learn. 

I would use space delimiters since they're easy to type. Like my example. I would split the string based on the delimiter into an array. Then I would loop the number of times as there are items in the array. I would then create an output variable and in each iteration add that value with a comma and space or  value "and, ". The condition for which would be based on whether we're at the penultimate item in the array. Say there are 7 items in the array. The condition would be "if count - 1"". Oh, and another condition for the last one which would only do the value of course. 

[rberq]

Play around with this.  I think it does what you want, or close to it.
This is written in Macro Express 3; if you have the PRO version you can
name the text and integer variables instead of using the standard "T" and "N" names.  

 

// Set input string for testing
Variable Set String %T1% "123"
// Clear output string to null
Variable Set String %T99% ""
// set integer with length of input string
Variable Set Integer %N1% from Length of Variable %T1%
// Append input characters one at a time to output string, with comma and blank after each (except last)
Variable Set Integer %N99% to 1
Repeat Until %N99% > %N1%
  Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T1% to %T89%
  If Variable %N99% = variable %N1%
    Variable Modify String: Append "AND " to %T99%
  End If
  Variable Modify String: Append %T89% to %T99%
  If Variable %N99% < variable %N1%
    Variable Modify String: Append ", " to %T99%
  End If
  // ....    bump pointer to next input digit
  Variable Modify Integer: Inc (%N99%)
Repeat End
//  
// If input string only two digits, get rid of the comma before the AND
If Variable %N1% = 2
  Replace ", AND" with " AND" in %T99%
End If
// If input string only one digit, get rid of the AND as well
If Variable %N1% = 1
  Replace "AND " with "" in %T99%
End If
//  
// Display result
Text Box Display: Output string
Macro Return
// 

[UAMike]

1 hour ago, rberq said:

Play around with this.  I think it does what you want, or close to it.
This is written in Macro Express 3; if you have the PRO version you can
name the text and integer variables instead of using the standard "T" and "N" names.  

 

// Set input string for testing
Variable Set String %T1% "123"
// Clear output string to null
Variable Set String %T99% ""
// set integer with length of input string
Variable Set Integer %N1% from Length of Variable %T1%
// Append input characters one at a time to output string, with comma and blank after each (except last)
Variable Set Integer %N99% to 1
Repeat Until %N99% > %N1%
  Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T1% to %T89%
  If Variable %N99% = variable %N1%
    Variable Modify String: Append "AND " to %T99%
  End If
  Variable Modify String: Append %T89% to %T99%
  If Variable %N99% < variable %N1%
    Variable Modify String: Append ", " to %T99%
  End If
  // ....    bump pointer to next input digit
  Variable Modify Integer: Inc (%N99%)
Repeat End
//  
// If input string only two digits, get rid of the comma before the AND
If Variable %N1% = 2
  Replace ", AND" with " AND" in %T99%
End If
// If input string only one digit, get rid of the AND as well
If Variable %N1% = 1
  Replace "AND " with "" in %T99%
End If
//  
// Display result
Text Box Display: Output string
Macro Return
// 

 

This works really nicely! In order to bump the pointer to the next digit, I modified the command: Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T1% starting at %N99% and 1 characters long to %T89%. 

 

This only works using 1 digit numbers, but it will work for my purposes. Thank you!

[rberq]

7 hours ago, UAMike said:

This works really nicely! In order to bump the pointer to the next digit, I modified the command: Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T1% starting at %N99% and 1 characters long to %T89%. 

 

This only works using 1 digit numbers, but it will work for my purposes. Thank you!

That's exactly right for the Variable Modify String command -- the details didn't show up when I copied the command text, but I thought it would be good for you to figure it out.  🙂

You could probably modify the macro to handle multi-digit strings,  but of course you would have to use some kind of delimiter between strings like Cory said.

[acantor]

This was a fun assignment! Here's my version:

 

 

Variable Set String %Results% to ""
 
Variable Set String %Input%: Prompt
 
Variable Set Integer %Length% to the length of variable %Input%
 
Switch( %Length% )
Case: 0
  Text Box Display: Nothing to do!
End Case
 
Case: 1 // Simple case: just output the input!
  Variable Set String %Results% to "%Input%"
End Case
 
Case: 2 // Change "XY" to "X and Y"
  Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %Input% starting at 1 and 1 characters long to %Char%
  Variable Modify String %Results%: Append Text (%Char% and )
  Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %Input% starting at 2 and 1 characters long to %Char%
  Variable Modify String %Results%: Append Text (%Char%)
End Case
 
Default Case // Change "ABC...XYZ" into "A, B, C, ... X, Y, and Z"
  Repeat Until %Length% Equals "2"
    Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %Input% starting at 1 and 1 characters long to %Char%
    Variable Modify String %Results%: Append Text (%Char%, )
    Variable Modify String: Delete part of text from %Input% starting at 1 and 1 characters long
    Variable Set Integer %Length% to the length of variable %Input%
  End Repeat
  Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %Input% starting at 1 and 1 characters long to %Char% // Handle penultimate character
  Variable Modify String %Results%: Append Text (%Char%, and )
  Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %Input% starting at 2 and 1 characters long to %Char% // Handle final character
  Variable Modify String %Results%: Append Text (%Char%)
End Case
End Switch
 
Text Box Display: %Results%

<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x00" Destination="%Results%" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<COMMENT/>
<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x01" Destination="%Input%" Prompt="Enter characters to output with grammaticalcommas and an \"and\"" Mask="FALSE" OnTop="TRUE" Left="Center" Top="Center" Monitor="0"/>
<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x00" Destination="%Input%" Value="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE" _ENABLED="FALSE" _COMMENT="The three lines speed up testng of this script"/>
<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x00" Destination="%Input%" Value="12" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE" _ENABLED="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x00" Destination="%Input%" Value="12345" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE" _ENABLED="FALSE"/>
<COMMENT/>
<VARIABLE SET INTEGER Option="\x0D" Destination="%Length%" Text_Variable="%Input%"/>
<COMMENT/>
<SWITCH Variable="%Length%"/>
<CASE Value="0"/>
<TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="Nothing to do!" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang1033{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs20 \r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="278" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="TRUE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/>
<END CASE/>
<COMMENT/>
<CASE Value="1" _COMMENT="Simple case: just output the input!"/>
<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x00" Destination="%Results%" Value="%Input%" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<END CASE/>
<COMMENT/>
<CASE Value="2" _COMMENT="Change \"XY\" to \"X and Y\""/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%Char%" Variable="%Input%" Start="1" Count="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x06" Destination="%Results%" Value="%Char% and " NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%Char%" Variable="%Input%" Start="2" Count="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x06" Destination="%Results%" Value="%Char%" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<END CASE/>
<COMMENT/>
<DEFAULT CASE _COMMENT="Change \"ABC...XYZ\" into \"A, B, C, ... X, Y, and Z\""/>
<REPEAT UNTIL Variable="%Length%" Condition="\x00" Value="2"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%Char%" Variable="%Input%" Start="1" Count="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x06" Destination="%Results%" Value="%Char%, " NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x0A" Destination="%Input%" Start="1" Count="1"/>
<VARIABLE SET INTEGER Option="\x0D" Destination="%Length%" Text_Variable="%Input%"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%Char%" Variable="%Input%" Start="1" Count="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE" _COMMENT="Handle penultimate character"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x06" Destination="%Results%" Value="%Char%, and " NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%Char%" Variable="%Input%" Start="2" Count="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE" _COMMENT="Handle final character"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x06" Destination="%Results%" Value="%Char%" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<END CASE/>
<END SWITCH/>
<COMMENT/>
<TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="%Results%" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang1033{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs20 \r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="278" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="TRUE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/>

 

[terrypin]

Hi Alan,

 

Minor point: I'd place %Results% in the body of the display, not the header, which will only accommodate a small number of digits.

 

<TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="RESULTS" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang1033{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs20 %tResults%\r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="278" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="TRUE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/>

 

[terrypin]

This version accepts a set of numbers, each of any length (well, under a billion!) separated by single spaces.

 

I've just used a small test set, so add whatever input method suits, such as a prompt or imported text file etc.

 

If you have difficulty understanding what's going on, sprinkle with Text Box Displays to show the changing values of key variables.

 

It would be a mere three lines of script without that final 'and'!
 

Variable Set String %tRawInput% to "1 23 456 7 8 999" // Test input
Variable Modify String: Replace " " in %tRawInput% with ", "
Variable Set Integer %nLenRaw% to the length of variable %tRawInput%
Repeat Until %tChar% Contains ","
  Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %tRawInput% starting at %nLenRaw% and 1 characters long to %tChar%
  Variable Modify Integer %nLenRaw%: Decrement
End Repeat
Variable Modify Integer: %nLenRaw% = %nLenRaw% + 2
Variable Modify String: Copy part of text in %tRawInput% starting at %nLenRaw% and 10 characters long to %tEnd%
Variable Modify String: Delete part of text from %tRawInput% starting at %nLenRaw% and 10 characters long
Variable Modify String %tRawInput%: Append Text ( and)
Variable Modify String %tRawInput%: Append Text String Variable (%tEnd%)


Text Box Display: RESULT

<VARIABLE SET STRING Option="\x00" Destination="%tRawInput%" Value="1 23 456 7 8 999" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE" _COMMENT="Test input"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x0F" Destination="%tRawInput%" ToReplace=" " ReplaceWith=", " All="TRUE" IgnoreCase="FALSE" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE SET INTEGER Option="\x0D" Destination="%nLenRaw%" Text_Variable="%tRawInput%"/>
<REPEAT UNTIL Variable="%tChar%" Condition="\x06" Value=","/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%tChar%" Variable="%tRawInput%" Start="%nLenRaw%" Count="1" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x08" Destination="%nLenRaw%"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x00" Destination="%nLenRaw%" Value1="%nLenRaw%" Value2="2"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%tEnd%" Variable="%tRawInput%" Start="%nLenRaw%" Count="10" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x0A" Destination="%tRawInput%" Start="%nLenRaw%" Count="10"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x06" Destination="%tRawInput%" Value=" and" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x07" Destination="%tRawInput%" Variable="%tEnd%" NoEmbeddedVars="FALSE"/>
<TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="RESULT" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang1033{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs20 %tRawInput%\r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="278" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="TRUE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/>

 

[UAMike]

@acantor @terrypin

 

Alan and Terry, I've tested out both of these macros and they both work great! Many thanks for your hard work!