How to find numbers from a string? - string

Question

I need to find numbers from a string. How does one find numbers from a string in VBA Excel?

Answer 1

Assuming you mean you want the non-numbers stripped out, you should be able to use something like:
Function onlyDigits(s As String) As String
' Variables needed (remember to use "option explicit"). '
Dim retval As String ' This is the return string. '
Dim i As Integer ' Counter for character position. '
' Initialise return string to empty '
retval = ""
' For every character in input string, copy digits to '
' return string. '
For i = 1 To Len(s)
If Mid(s, i, 1) >= "0" And Mid(s, i, 1) <= "9" Then
retval = retval + Mid(s, i, 1)
End If
Next
' Then return the return string. '
onlyDigits = retval
End Function
Calling this with:
Dim myStr as String
myStr = onlyDigits ("3d1fgd4g1dg5d9gdg")
MsgBox (myStr)
will give you a dialog box containing:
314159
and those first two lines show how you can store it into an arbitrary string variable, to do with as you wish.

Answer 2

Regular expressions are built to parse. While the syntax can take a while to pick up on this approach is very efficient, and is very flexible for handling more complex string extractions/replacements
Sub Tester()
MsgBox CleanString("3d1fgd4g1dg5d9gdg")
End Sub
Function CleanString(strIn As String) As String
Dim objRegex
Set objRegex = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With objRegex
.Global = True
.Pattern = "[^\d]+"
CleanString = .Replace(strIn, vbNullString)
End With
End Function

Answer 3

Expanding on brettdj's answer, in order to parse disjoint embedded digits into separate numbers:
Sub TestNumList()
Dim NumList As Variant 'Array
NumList = GetNums("34d1fgd43g1 dg5d999gdg2076")
Dim i As Integer
For i = LBound(NumList) To UBound(NumList)
MsgBox i + 1 & ": " & NumList(i)
Next i
End Sub
Function GetNums(ByVal strIn As String) As Variant 'Array of numeric strings
Dim RegExpObj As Object
Dim NumStr As String
Set RegExpObj = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With RegExpObj
.Global = True
.Pattern = "[^\d]+"
NumStr = .Replace(strIn, " ")
End With
GetNums = Split(Trim(NumStr), " ")
End Function

Answer 4

Use the built-in VBA function Val, if the numbers are at the front end of the string:
Dim str as String
Dim lng as Long
str = "1 149 xyz"
lng = Val(str)
lng = 1149
Val Function, on MSDN

Answer 5

I was looking for the answer of the same question but for a while I found my own solution and I wanted to share it for other people who will need those codes in the future. Here is another solution without function.
Dim control As Boolean
Dim controlval As String
Dim resultval As String
Dim i as Integer
controlval = "A1B2C3D4"
For i = 1 To Len(controlval)
control = IsNumeric(Mid(controlval, i, 1))
If control = True Then resultval = resultval & Mid(controlval, i, 1)
Next i
resultval = 1234

Answer 6

This a variant of brettdj's & pstraton post.
This will return a true Value and not give you the #NUM! error. And \D is shorthand for anything but digits. The rest is much like the others only with this minor fix.
Function StripChar(Txt As String) As Variant
With CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
.Global = True
.Pattern = "\D"
StripChar = Val(.Replace(Txt, " "))
End With
End Function

Answer 7

This is based on another answer, but is just reformated:
Assuming you mean you want the non-numbers stripped out, you should be able to use something like:
'
' Skips all characters in the input string except digits
'
Function GetDigits(ByVal s As String) As String
Dim char As String
Dim i As Integer
GetDigits = ""
For i = 1 To Len(s)
char = Mid(s, i, 1)
If char >= "0" And char <= "9" Then
GetDigits = GetDigits + char
End If
Next i
End Function
Calling this with:
Dim myStr as String
myStr = GetDigits("3d1fgd4g1dg5d9gdg")
Call MsgBox(myStr)
will give you a dialog box containing:
314159
and those first two lines show how you can store it into an arbitrary string variable, to do with as you wish.

Answer 8

Alternative via Byte Array
If you assign a string to a Byte array you typically get the number equivalents of each character in pairs of the array elements. Use a loop for numeric check via the Like operator and return the joined array as string:
Function Nums(s$)
Dim by() As Byte, i&, ii&
by = s: ReDim tmp(UBound(by)) ' assign string to byte array; prepare temp array
For i = 0 To UBound(by) - 1 Step 2 ' check num value in byte array (0, 2, 4 ... n-1)
If Chr(by(i)) Like "#" Then tmp(ii) = Chr(by(i)): ii = ii + 1
Next i
Nums = Trim(Join(tmp, vbNullString)) ' return string with numbers only
End Function
Example call
Sub testByteApproach()
Dim s$: s = "a12bx99y /\:3,14159" ' [1] define original string
Debug.Print s & " => " & Nums(s) ' [2] display original string and result
End Sub
would display the original string and the result string in the immediate window:
a12bx99y /\:3,14159 => 1299314159

Answer 9

Based on #brettdj's answer using a VBScript regex ojbect with two modifications:
The function handles variants and returns a variant. That is, to take care of a null case; and
Uses explicit object creation, with a reference to the "Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5" library
Function GetDigitsInVariant(inputVariant As Variant) As Variant
' Returns:
' Only the digits found in a varaint.
' Examples:
' GetDigitsInVariant(Null) => Null
' GetDigitsInVariant("") => ""
' GetDigitsInVariant(2021-/05-May/-18, Tue) => 20210518
' GetDigitsInVariant(2021-05-18) => 20210518
' Notes:
' If the inputVariant is null, null will be returned.
' If the inputVariant is "", "" will be returned.
' Usage:
' VBA IDE Menu > Tools > References ...
' > "Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5" > [OK]
' With an explicit object reference to RegExp we can get intellisense
' and review the object heirarchy with the object browser
' (VBA IDE Menu > View > Object Browser).
Dim regex As VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
Set regex = New VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
Dim result As Variant
result = Null
If IsNull(inputVariant) Then
result = Null
Else
With regex
.Global = True
.Pattern = "[^\d]+"
result = .Replace(inputVariant, vbNullString)
End With
End If
GetDigitsInVariant = result
End Function
Testing:
Private Sub TestGetDigitsInVariant()
Dim dateVariants As Variant
dateVariants = Array(Null, "", "2021-/05-May/-18, Tue", _
"2021-05-18", "18/05/2021", "3434 ..,sdf,sfd 444")
Dim dateVariant As Variant
For Each dateVariant In dateVariants
Debug.Print dateVariant & ": ", , GetDigitsInVariant(dateVariant)
Next dateVariant
Debug.Print
End Sub

Answer 10

Public Function ExtractChars(strRef$) As String
'Extract characters from a string according to a range of charactors e.g'+.-1234567890'
Dim strA$, e%, strExt$, strCnd$: strExt = "": strCnd = "+.-1234567890"
For e = 1 To Len(strRef): strA = Mid(strRef, e, 1)
If InStr(1, strCnd, strA) > 0 Then strExt = strExt & strA
Next e: ExtractChars = strExt
End Function
In the immediate debug dialog:
? ExtractChars("a-5d31.78K")
-531.78