Insert string into string at random position

[redfield]

Hi
as far as I have understood, I can do a

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put str2 into str1

which will replace str1 with str2. But what if I want to add str2 to str1, meaning I want to place str2 within str1, at any random point (including the beginning or the end of str1)?

Example:
str1: abcd
str2: xyz
abcd -> abcxyzd
or
abcd -> xyzabcd

[dunbarx]

HI.

You have entered the world of chunks. Putting text INTO a string does just as you said.

Now try putting some text AFTER or BEFORE a string.

Now get really fancy and:

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put space & "despise" after char 1 of "I okra"
put "A" into char 2 of "XYZ"
put "hate" into word 2 of "I love okra"
put "any vegetable but okra" into word 3 of "I love okra"

Experiment. You can do this sort of thing with characters, words, items, lines, whatever. This is one of the most powerful tools in xTalk.

Craig Newman

[redfield]

Thanks for the swift reply!
For some reason those examples won't work for me, the editor says "bad destination". I have to put the target strings into variables, e. g.

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put "I okra" into myvar
   put space & "despise" after char 1 of myvar

Then they work fine. However in your examples the target positions are all specified, but I am wondering how to position str2 randomly?

[dunbarx]

Ah,

I gave incomplete examples. They were not "real", only ideas.

A variable is already somewhat "real". A literal string really cannot be considered so, and LC might bark at trying to do exactly what I wrote. I may have been cavalier.

Bet you that is the problem.

As for random stuff, try something like (and place all the destination strings into variables or fields first:

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put "X" into any char of "123456" 
put "dog" into any item of "cat,fish,parrot,velociraptor"
put "" into word 3 of "I love okra"
put "X" into char random(10) of "1234567890"

Craig

[dunbarx]

You must learn chunking. There are vast possibilities with them.

Consider that you can do something with the foundChunk, the mouseChunk, the selectedChunk. You already sort of know how this works if you ever asked for the number of words in a field. That is easy to understand, right?

These are all chunks, and can be manipulated in many ways. You just need time to assemble and dissassemble strings of text until it is second nature. I think the User Guide has quite a bit to say about chunks.

Craig

[redfield]

I will try to become a Chunkie .
I have played with all the examples and the randomness is working well with "any" or "random()", however the problem with "into" remains: it leads to replacing a piece of the target string. I am wondering though how to insert a string at a random point, without removing any of the target string.

[Klaus]

I will try to become a Chunkie

LOL!

I have played with all the examples and the randomness is working well with "any" or "random()", however the problem with "into" remains: it leads to replacing a piece of the target string.

INTO will always replace existing content!

I am wondering though how to insert a string at a random point, without removing any of the target string.

The answer has already been given earlier here, you need to put BEFORE or AFTER any random chunk like this:
...
put "1234" after any char of fld 1
put "whatever" before any word of fld 1
## and even:
put "1234" before any char of any word of fld 1
etc.
Try it, seeing is believing
Hope that helps!

Best

Klaus

[redfield]

Yes okay but somehow "before" and "after" to me don't result in complete random placement. For example if I put string1 "after" a random char in string2, it will never be placed at the very beginning of string2, because I determined it to be placed after some char. For complete randomness I would expect also the possibility of the string being placed at the very beginning of the target string. This could be achieved by using "before", but then again the string will never be placed at the very end of target string.

[SparkOut]

Add a dummy character after the original string. Put the new string before any character of the "extended" original string. Delete the last dummy character of the new combination string.

[bogs]

Well, you *can* randomize it even more by sticking the choice of 'before' or 'after' into random too. For example, something like (psuedo) -

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// whatever handler your trying to randomize in....
put "before" && "after" into tmpRandom
set the itemDelimiter to space
put any item of tmpRandom into tmpRandom

// now I'll borrow one of Klaus's examples....
put "1234" tmpRandom any char of fld 1

Try it and let us know how it flies.

[Klaus]

OK, agreed...

Hm, what about this randomness:

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...
put random(2) into tRandomness
if tRandomness = 1 then
  put "1234" BEFORE any char of any word of fld 1
else
  put "1234" AFTER any char of any word of fld 1
end if
...

[Klaus]

Try it and let us know how it flies.

Not very high actually
-> Error at line 15 (Handler: can't find handler) near "tmpRandom", char 8

You will need to DO this somehow.

[bogs]

Hey, that was out of what few brain cells I had firing at the time

Ok, here is one that works for sure (TESTED)

...and CONFIRMED...

Selection_001.png (9.72 KiB) Viewed 11826 times

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// whatever handler your trying to randomize in....
   put "before" && "after" into tmpRandom
   set the itemDelimiter to space
   put any item of tmpRandom into tmpRandom
   
   // now I'll borrow one of Klaus's examples....
   put "put 1234" && tmpRandom && "any char of fld 2" into tmpStatement
   do tmpStatement

Having said that though, Klaus's is certainly far easier. On the other hand, he really needs to practice his any statements

[SparkOut]

In defence of Klausimausi , there's also an opportunity to practice chunking delimiters
What's wrong with

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put "before,after" into tmpRandom

and not have to worry about the delimiter, or

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put any word of tmpRandom into tmpRandom  

and not have to worry about the delimiter?

[bogs]

I could say you win, but I think that is a given