Remove trailing line breaks - Xtreme Visual Basic Talk

03-22-2012, 10:28 AM

mrfoot

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Remove trailing line breaks

Hey.. 10 years later.. Referencing this thread

This function was close but didn't work for me.

I made a slight modification to it, as shown below, and now it works well to remove one or more trailing line breaks.

Note that I have the "option compare text" setting in the module I tested this with.

The string I tested it with was as follows:

Code:

Dim ttt As String
ttt = "one" & vbCrLf & "two" & vbCrLf & "three" & vbCrLf & "." & vbCrLf

Code:

Private Function Remove_Line_Break(ByVal MyLine As String) As String
    Dim X As Integer
    Dim strX As String
    
    For X = Len(MyLine) To 1 Step -2
        strX = Mid$(MyLine, X + 1, 2)
        If strX >= "a" Then GoTo Finished
        If strX = vbCrLf Then
            MyLine = Left$(MyLine, Len(MyLine) - 2)
        End If
    Next X

Finished:
    Remove_Line_Break = MyLine
End Function

A belated thank you very much, for pointing me in the right direction with this

Last edited by passel; 03-29-2012 at 02:49 PM.

03-22-2012, 11:38 AM

Gruff

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Welcome to the forum mrfoot. Don't forget to read the forum Posting Guidelines.

Same thing but simplified and for any character or number of characters.

Code:

Option Explicit

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
  Dim Test As String
  ' This could be text ending in multiple vbCrLf characters.
  Test = "This is a test*!*!*!*!*!*!"
  MsgBox RTrimChars(Test, "*!") & "---"
End Sub


Public Function RTrimChars(ByVal Myline As String, ByVal TrimChars As String) As String
  Dim CharsSize As Integer

  CharsSize = Len(TrimChars)

  Do Until Right$(Myline, CharsSize) <> TrimChars
    Myline = Left$(Myline, Len(Myline) - CharsSize)
  Loop

  RTrimChars = Myline
End Function

Edit:
Doh! Didn't notice this was a grave dig.
Please do not post to threads where the last response was older than a couple of weeks as per forum guidelines. Start a new thread instead.

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Last edited by Gruff; 03-22-2012 at 12:01 PM.

03-22-2012, 11:41 AM

AtmaWeapon

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Gravedigging is generally frowned upon, but I'm poking my head in because none of the answers are correct.

In general, Mid$(), Len(), and other structured-programming-based VB6 methods should make a .NET programmer go "Huh?". It's been nearly 10 years; I'm not sure why people are reaching for them first. .NET programmers aren't familiar with them unless they had prior VB6 experience. This is a more .NET solution:

Code:

myLine = myLine.TrimEnd()

That'll trim all whitespace from the end of the line. Maybe you /only/ want CRLF. Easy enough, though you must note vbCrLf is in fact two characters:

Code:

myLine = myLine.TrimEnd(vbCrLf.ToCharArray())

Don't reinvent the wheel!

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03-22-2012, 11:47 AM

Gruff

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I agree with you completely Atma. In this case though I do not think the op is using VB.NET.

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03-29-2012, 01:45 AM

bobcory

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Am I missing something here? The original question from a decade ago was:

Quote:

What is the best way to trim trailing line breaks (vbCrLf) from a string? Similar to RTrim to remove spaces. Do I have to loop and remove one by one?

Surely he/she must have been referring to text from a RichTextBox (or similar) and basically just needed to access each line separately? In which case:

Code:

Dim strLine() as String

strLine = Split(RTB.Text, vbCrLf)

Then line 1 is in strLine(1) and so forth. Simples.
.

03-29-2012, 10:01 AM

Gruff

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Actually no Bob. It sounds like your suggesting the same thing as
myString = replace(mystring,vbCrLf,"")
The op was asking about removing trailing vbCrLf characters only.
P.S. the first element of the result of the split() function is zero not one.

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03-29-2012, 10:34 AM

bobcory

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Gruff

Actually no Bob. It sounds like your suggesting the same thing as
myString = replace(mystring,vbCrLf,"")
The op was asking about removing trailing vbCrLf characters only.

Gruff. Yes, but by definition a vbCrLf can ONLY be at the end. That is the definition of the end? Or am I up another gumtree?

I reckon we are both right and the question is wrong ... LOL
Bob

PS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gruff

PS the first element of the result of the split() function is zero not one.

I claim that Line Zero is strArray(0) and Line 1 is strArray(1)

If you can have the Square Root of -1 I think you can have a line zero
.

03-29-2012, 12:38 PM

Gruff

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Gumtrees abound.

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03-29-2012, 03:30 PM

passel

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Bob, I think the desire was to remove blank lines from the end of a file (the trailing line breaks).
You do a single read of the whole file into a string and remove the multiple line breaks at the end.

Gruff, its best to avoid string manipulations if you can, as you'll be creating new strings each time, most likely. Especially true in .Net, which this is not, but still true.
So, I changed your loop to scan the string, but only modify the string, once the "end" is found. (added a couple of "idiot proofing" tests as well)

Code:

Public Function RTrimChars(ByVal Myline As String, ByVal TrimChars As String) As String
  Dim CharsSize As Integer, p As Long
  
  CharsSize = Len(TrimChars)
  p = 1 + Len(Myline) - CharsSize
  If p > 0 Then                  'If the string is shorter than our pattern don't bother causing an exception
    Do Until Mid$(Myline, p, CharsSize) <> TrimChars  'look from the end of the string until we don't match
      p = p - CharsSize
      If p < 1 Then Exit Do  'Someones playing around, its filled with the pattern, we'll return an empty string
    Loop
  End If
  RTrimChars = Left$(Myline, p + CharsSize - 1)
End Function

I guess AtmaWeapon must have step in something slippery and slid into the legacy VB forum. Would have though the smell would have alerted him.

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#10

03-30-2012, 01:10 AM

bobcory

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Quote:

Originally Posted by passel

Bob, I think the desire was to remove blank lines from the end of a file

Well, the original question was:

Quote:

Hi,
What is the best way to trim trailing line breaks (vbCrLf) from a string? Similar to RTrim to remove spaces. Do I have to loop and remove one by one?

Thanks,
Glenn

I see no reference to blank lines or files! This could become a religion ... gradually accumulating myths like a snow ball rolling down a hill and the protagonists selectively quoting each other to mislead the spectators LOL
Bob
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#11

03-30-2012, 09:45 AM

Gruff

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Thanks for the update Passel you are right of course.

Finding the start of the trailing blank lines and making only one
Left$() clip is much more efficient than multiple clipping in a loop. What was I thinking?

In any case my original point was simply that making a general tool that can Trim any trailing character or group of characters makes more sense than a one trick pony. Similar to the VB.NET TrimEnd() tool overload.

Bob,

A blank line is one where the vbCrLf has nothing after it or another vbCrLf.

Example:
s = "This is a test" & vbcrlf & This should be the last line" & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & vbcrlf

There are three trailing blank lines in the above string. The one followin "this is a test" is not trailing so is not removed.

---

With respect,

If you actually showed some code you tested that explained what you were offering it would have been clearer than a general statement about using the split function. Although re-reading your posts in this thread I think you are tweaking our noses in jest.

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Last edited by Gruff; 03-30-2012 at 05:18 PM.

#12

03-30-2012, 12:05 PM

passel

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bobcory

Well, the original question was:

Quote:

What is the best way to trim trailing line breaks (vbCrLf) from a string? Similar to RTrim to remove spaces. Do I have to loop and remove one by one?

A bit of sophistry, Bob, given your statement:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobcory

Surely he/she must have been referring to text from a RichTextBox (or similar) and basically just needed to access each line separately?

There was no reference to a RichTextBox or needing to access separate lines stated either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobcory

Gruff. Yes, but by definition a vbCrLf can ONLY be at the end. That is the definition of the end? Or am I up another gumtree?

I'm not sure how the gumtree applies but assuming the assertion that one side of the Or condition must be True, then you must be up a gumtree.
A vbCrLF is not only at the end of a string (remember the original question, how to move trailing line breaks from a String). A linebreak can occur thoughout a string indicating the string should be "broken" at this point and printing resumed on a new line of your output (a monitor, or printer, etc).
A linebreak is a formating convention so can occur at any point in a string.

In English, the "s" at the end of a noun often means we're talking about multiple instances of the noun, as in "trailing line breaks".
Also, in English, the article "a" would indicate a singular instance of some thing, i.e. a car, a plane, a string.

The word trailing is used before a "thing" to indicate multiple instances of that particular thing at the end of a list (or array, or string) of things, such as trailing zeros, trailing spaces, trailing line breaks.

The RTrim functions was mentioned to illustrate what the person was looking for to help avoid confusion.
The RTrim function removes multiple whitespace characters from the "right" end of a string.
It doesn't remove the spaces in the string.
In doesn't separate the string into an array of strings, throwing away the "separaters" (the spaces).
It removes the trailing whitespace, leaving you a single string without the extra space at the end.

So, he was looking for a function that was similiar to RTrim in its action, but removed trailing line breaks from the end of the string.
So, that requirement meant, to the original person who replied, and to the person who modified it 10 years later:
A function that takes a string, removes the extra line breaks at the end of the string, returning the trimmed string.

Looking at all the code posted, every one of them (including AtmaWeapon's) met that requirement with one exception, yours.

The original poster was also clear on the type of line break (vbCrLf), as he was probably aware that some text files (Unix, Linux, etc) use (vbLf) for line breaks, and some text files (Mac, DEC, etc) use (vbCr) for line breaks.

You are right, he didn't mention a text file, I was just illustrating that that is one common case where you may create a string from the file and have multiple line breaks at the end of the string.
Your textbox is another case, as the text property is a single string, and if the user hits Enter multiple times at the end of the text, will have a single string with multiple line breaks at the end of the string.

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#13

03-30-2012, 04:25 PM

dilettante

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So far this thread reads like an early April Fool's Day attempt. I won't quote the many "funnies" because the thread is too full of long posts already.

Anyway, here's my contribution:

Code:

Private Function RTrimStrings(ByVal Text As String, ByVal TrimString As String) As String
    Dim Max
    Dim I As Long
    Dim J As Long
    
    Max = Len(TrimString) - 1
    If Max < 0 Then Err.Raise 5, , "TrimString must be at least 1 character long"
    I = Len(Text)
    Do While I > 0
        J = InStrRev(Text, TrimString, I)
        If J = 0 Or I - J > Max Then Exit Do
        I = J - 1
    Loop
    RTrimStrings = Left$(Text, I)
End Function

Last edited by dilettante; 03-30-2012 at 04:32 PM. Reason: Added the error check

#14

03-31-2012, 06:29 AM

bobcory

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bobcory

This could become a religion ... gradually accumulating myths like a snow ball rolling down a hill and the protagonists selectively quoting each other to mislead the spectators LOL

Well, I think I got that right!

Actually, I will confess that I had not thought of a String Array where each element of the array has several vbCrLf entries so I plead guilty to that

Quote:

If you actually showed some code you tested that explained what you were offering it would have been clearer than a general statement about using the split function

Well actually I did post some code:

Code:

Dim strLine() as String

strLine = Split(RTB.Text, vbCrLf)

Quote:

Although re-reading your posts in this thread I think you are tweaking our noses in jest.

Again, slightly guilty.

As a general point I have to say I find this forum incredibly useful and have not the slightest desire to upset anybody so I apologise if I have offended anybody. Over the last nine years dozens of people have spent a lot of time helping me and I really do appreciate that.

Hopefully, people in the future who want to do things with strings containing vbCrLf will find these posts useful
Kind Regards to All
Bob
.