StackWords ( Text ; StartingIndex ; Stack )

Accepts text consisting of a sequence of words separated by spaces and produces a return-delimited list of the words

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John Shanks - Show more from this author
Sunset Knoll Consulting
http://homepage.mac.com/sk_consulting/

Sample input:

StackWords ("The boy rode the blue bicycle"; ""; "")

Sample output:

The
boy
rode
the
blue
bicycle

Function definition: (Copy & paste into FileMaker's Edit Custom Function window)

Let ( [ Index = StartingIndex + 1 ; Stack = Stack & If ( IsEmpty ( Stack ) ; "" ; "¶" ) & MiddleWords ( Text ; Index ; 1 ) ]; 
            If ( Index = WordCount ( Text ) ; Stack ; StackWords ( Text ; Index; Stack ) ) )

This function takes advantage of the recursive nature of custom functions move along a set of word (as in a sentence) and stack those words into a return-delimited list. The function stacks one word each recursion until the set is exhausted and returns the result back up through the recusion sequence.

We used this to form a key field pointing relationally to a table of words to determine the existence of words from that table in the sentence of interest.

Comments

		Wendy Mar 13, 2015
I couldn't get this to work. I wish custom function posters would include a little more information for newbies.

		Alistair, U.K. Oct 10, 2017
Just use the Substitute function! Nest as appropriate. For example, the following will substitute spaces and hyphens with returns. Substitute ( Substitute ( YourField ; " "; "Â¶"); "-"; "Â¶")

Note: these functions are not guaranteed or supported by BrianDunning.com. Please contact the individual developer with any questions or problems.

StackWords ( Text ; StartingIndex ; Stack )

Comments

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