Array service

ScriptForge.Array service

Provides a collection of methods for manipulating and transforming arrays of one dimension (vectors) and arrays of two dimensions (matrices). This includes set operations, sorting, importing to and exporting from text files. Arrays with more than two dimensions cannot be used with the methods in this service, the only exception being the CountDims method that accepts Arrays with any number of dimensions.

Service invocation

Append -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Append

Append

Appends the items listed as arguments to the end of the input array.

SF_Array.Append(Array_1D As Variant, arg0 As Variant, [arg1 As Variant], ...) As Variant

Array_1D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. arg0, ... : a list of items to append to Array_1D.

Sub Example_Append() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Append(Array(1, 2, 3), 4, 5) ' (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) End Sub

AppendColumn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;AppendColumn

AppendColumn

Appends a new column to the right side of a two dimensional array. The resulting array has the same lower bounds as the initial two dimensional array.

SF_Array.AppendColumn(Array_2D As Variant, New_Column As Variant) As Variant

Array_2D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. If that array has only one dimension, it is considered as the first column of the resulting two-dimensional array. New_Column : a 1-dimensional array with as many items as there are rows in Array_2D.

Sub Example_AppendColumn() Dim a As Variant, b As variant a = SF_Array.AppendColumn(Array(1, 2, 3), Array(4, 5, 6)) ' ((1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6)) b = SF_Array.AppendColumn(a, Array(7, 8, 9)) ' ((1, 4, 7), (2, 5, 8), (3, 6, 9)) c = SF_Array.AppendColumn(Array(), Array(1, 2, 3)) ' ∀ i ∈ {0 ≤ i ≤ 2} : b(0, i) ≡ i End Sub

AppendRow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;AppendRow

AppendRow

Append to the bottom of a two dimension array a new row. The resulting array has the same lower bounds as the initial two dimension array.

SF_Array.AppendRow(Array_2D As Variant, Row As Variant) As Variant

Array_2D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. If that array has 1 dimension, it is considered as the first row of the resulting 2 dimension array. Row : a 1D array with as many items as there are columns in Array_2D.

Sub Example_AppendRow() Dim a As Variant, b As variant a = SF_Array.AppendRow(Array(1, 2, 3), Array(4, 5, 6)) ' ((1, 2, 3), (4, 5, 6)) b = SF_Array..AppendRow(Array(), Array(1, 2, 3)) ' ∀ i ∈ {0 ≤ i ≤ 2} : b(i, 0) ≡ i End Sub

Contains -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Contains

Contains

Check if a one dimension array contains a certain number, text or date. Text comparison can be case-sensitive or not.
Sorted input arrays must be filled homogeneously, meaning all items must be scalars of the same type (Empty and Null items are forbidden).
The result of the method is unpredictable when the array is announced as sorted and is in reality not.
A binary search is done when the array is sorted, otherwise, it is simply scanned from top to bottom and Empty and Null items are ignored.

SF_Array.Contains(Array_1D, ToFind As Variant, [CaseSensitive As Boolean], [SortOrder As String]) As Boolean

Array_1D : the array to scan. ToFind : a number, a date or a string to find. CaseSensitive : Only for string comparisons, default = False. SortOrder : "ASC", "DESC" or "" (= not sorted, default)

Sub Example_Contains() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Contains(Array("A","B","c","D"), "C", SortOrder := "ASC") ' True SF_Array.Contains(Array("A","B","c","D"), "C", CaseSensitive := True) ' False End Sub

ConvertToDictionary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;ConvertToDictionary

ConvertToDictionary

Store the content of a 2-columns array into a ScriptForge.Dictionary object.
The key will be extracted from the first column, the item from the second.

SF_Array.ConvertToDictionary(Array_2D As Variant) As Variant

Array_1D : the first column must contain exclusively strings with a length > 0, in any order.

Sub Example_ConvertToDictionary() Dim a As Variant, b As Variant a = SF_Array.AppendColumn(Array("a", "b", "c"), Array(1, 2, 3)) b = SF_Array.ConvertToDictionary(a) MsgBox b.Item("c") ' 3 End Sub

CountDims -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;CountDims

CountDims

Count the number of dimensions of an array. The result can be greater than two.
If the argument is not an array, returns -1
If the array is not initialized, returns 0.

SF_Array.CountDims(Array_ND As Variant) As Integer

Array_ND : the array to examine.

Sub Example_CountDims() Dim a(1 To 10, -3 To 12, 5) MsgBox SF_Array.CountDims(a) ' 3 End Sub

Difference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Difference

Difference

Build a set, as a zero-based array, by applying the difference operator on the two input arrays. Resulting items originate from the first array and not from the second.
The resulting array is sorted in ascending order.
Both input arrays must be filled homogeneously, their items must be scalars of the same type. Empty and Null items are forbidden.
Text comparison can be case sensitive or not.

SF_Array.Difference(Array1_1D As Variant, Array2_1D As Variant[, CaseSensitive As Boolean]) As Variant

Array1_1D : A 1 dimension reference array, whose items are examined for removal. Array2_1D : A 1 dimension array, whose items are subtracted from the first input array. CaseSensitive : Only if the arrays are populated with strings, default = False.

Sub Example_Difference() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Difference(Array("A", "C", "A", "b", "B"), Array("C", "Z", "b"), True) ' ("A", "B") End Sub

ExportToTextFile -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;ExportToTextFile

ExportToTextFile

Write all items of the array sequentially to a text file. If the file exists already, it will be overwritten without warning.

SF_Array.ExportToTextFile(Array_1D As Variant, FileName As String, [Encoding As String]) As Boolean

Array_1D : The array to export. It must contain only strings. FileName : the name of the text file containing the data. The name is expressed as given by the current FileNaming property of the SF_FileSystem service. Default = any (both the URL format and the native operating system format are admitted). Encoding : The character set that should be used. Use one of the names listed in IANA character sets. Note that %PRODUCTNAME may not implement all existing character sets. Default is "UTF-8".

Sub Example_ExportToTextFile() SF_Array.ExportToTextFile(Array("A","B","C","D"), "C:\Temp\A short file.txt") End Sub

ExtractColumn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;ExtractColumn

ExtractColumn

Extract from a two dimension array a specific column as a new array.
Its lower LBound and upper UBound boundaries are identical to that of the first dimension of the input array.

SF_Array.ExtractColumn(Array_2D As Variant, ColumnIndex As Long) As Variant

Array_2D : The array from which to extract. ColumnIndex : The column number to extract - must be in the interval [LBound, UBound].

Sub Example_ExtractColumn 'Creates a 3x3 matrix: |1, 2, 3| ' |4, 5, 6| ' |7, 8, 9| Dim mat as Variant, col as Variant mat = SF_Array.AppendRow(Array(), Array(1, 2, 3)) mat = SF_Array.AppendRow(mat, Array(4, 5, 6)) mat = SF_Array.AppendRow(mat, Array(7, 8, 9)) 'Extracts the third column: |3, 6, 9| col = SF_Array.ExtractColumn(mat, 2) End Sub

ExtractRow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;ExtractRow

ExtractRow

Extract from a two dimension array a specific row as a new array.
Its lower LBound and upper UBound boundaries are identical to that of the second dimension of the input array.

SF_Array.ExtractRow(Array_2D As Variant, RowIndex As Long) As Variant

Array_2D : The array from which to extract. RowIndex : The row number to extract - must be in the interval [LBound, UBound].

Sub Example_ExtractRow 'Creates a 3x3 matrix: |1, 2, 3| ' |4, 5, 6| ' |7, 8, 9| Dim mat as Variant, row as Variant mat = SF_Array.AppendRow(Array(), Array(1, 2, 3)) mat = SF_Array.AppendRow(mat, Array(4, 5, 6)) mat = SF_Array.AppendRow(mat, Array(7, 8, 9)) 'Extracts the first row: |1, 2, 3| row = SF_Array.ExtractRow(mat, 0) End Sub

Flatten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Flatten

Flatten

Stack all single items of an array and all items in its subarrays into one new array without subarrays. Empty subarrays are ignored and subarrays with a number of dimensions greater than one are not flattened.

SF_Array.Flatten(Array_1D As Variant) As Variant

Array_1D : the pre-existing array, may be empty.

Sub Example_Flatten() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Flatten(Array(Array(1, 2, 3), 4, 5)) ' (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) End Sub You can use the Flatten method along with other methods such as Append or Prepend to concatenate a set of 1D arrays into a single 1D array.

Next is an example of how the methods Flatten and Append can be combined to concatenate three arrays. Sub Concatenate_Example 'Creates three arrays for this example Dim a as Variant, b as Variant, c as Variant a = Array(1, 2, 3) b = Array(4, 5) c = Array(6, 7, 8, 9) 'Concatenates the three arrays into a single 1D array Dim arr as Variant arr = SF_Array.Flatten(SF_Array.Append(a, b, c)) '(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) End Sub

ImportFromCSVFile -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;ImportFromCSVFile

ImportFromCSVFile

Import the data contained in a comma-separated values (CSV) file. The comma may be replaced by any character. The applicable CSV format is described in IETF Common Format and MIME Type for CSV Files. Each line in the file contains a full record (line splitting is not allowed).
However sequences like \n, \t, ... are left unchanged. Use SF_String.Unescape() method to manage them. The method returns a two dimension array whose rows correspond to a single record read in the file and whose columns correspond to a field of the record. No check is made about the coherence of the field types across columns. A best guess will be made to identify numeric and date types. If a line contains less or more fields than the first line in the file, an exception will be raised. Empty lines however are simply ignored. If the size of the file exceeds the number of items limit (see inside the code), a warning is raised and the array is truncated.

SF_Array.ImportFromCSVFile(FileName As String, [Delimiter As String], [DateFormat As String]) As Variant

FileName : the name of the text file containing the data. The name is expressed as given by the current FileNaming property of the SF_FileSystem service. Default = any (both the URL format and the native operating system format are admitted). Delimiter : A single character, usually, a comma, a semicolon or a TAB character. Default = ",". DateFormat : A special mechanism handles dates when DateFormat is either "YYYY-MM-DD", "DD-MM-YYYY" or "MM-DD-YYYY". The dash (-) may be replaced by a dot (.), a slash (/) or a space. Other date formats will be ignored. Dates defaulting to "" are considered as normal text.

Given this CSV file: Name,DateOfBirth,Address,City Anna,2002/03/31,"Rue de l'église, 21",Toulouse Fred,1998/05/04,"Rue Albert Einstein, 113A",Carcassonne Sub Example_ImportFromCSVFile() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.ImportFromCSVFile("C:\Temp\myFile.csv", DateFormat := "YYYY/MM/DD") MsgBox a(0, 3) ' City MsgBox TypeName(a(1, 2)) ' Date MsgBox a(2, 2) ' Rue Albert Einstein, 113A End Sub

IndexOf -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;IndexOf

IndexOf

Look in a one dimension array for a number, a string or a date. Text comparison can be case-sensitive or not.
If the array is sorted it must be filled homogeneously, which means that all items must be scalars of the same type (Empty and Null items are forbidden).
The result of the method is unpredictable when the array is announced as sorted and actually is not.
A binary search is performed on sorted arrays. Otherwise, arrays are simply scanned from top to bottom and Empty and Null items are ignored.

The method returns LBound(input array) - 1 if the search was not successful.

SF_Array.IndexOf(Array_1D, ToFind As Variant, [CaseSensitive As Boolean], [SortOrder As String]) As Long

Array_1D : the array to scan. ToFind : a number, a date or a string to find. CaseSensitive : Only for string comparisons, default = False. SortOrder : "ASC", "DESC" or "" (= not sorted, default)

Sub Example_IndexOf() MsgBox SF_Array.IndexOf(Array("A","B","c","D"), "C", SortOrder := "ASC") ' 2 MsgBox SF_Array.IndexOf(Array("A","B","c","D"), "C", CaseSensitive := True) ' -1 End Sub

Insert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Insert

Insert

Insert before a given index of the input array the items listed as arguments.
Arguments are inserted blindly. Each of them might be either a scalar of any type or a subarray.

SF_Array.Insert(Array_1D As Variant, Before As Long, arg0 As Variant, [arg1 As Variant], ...) As Variant

Array_1D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. Before : the index before which to insert; must be in the interval [LBound, UBound + 1]. arg0, ... : a list of items to insert inside Array_1D.

Sub Example_Insert() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Insert(Array(1, 2, 3), 2, "a", "b") ' (1, 2, "a", "b", 3) End Sub

InsertSorted -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;InsertSorted

InsertSorted

Insert in a sorted array a new item on its place.
The array must be filled homogeneously, meaning that all items must be scalars of the same type.
Empty and Null items are forbidden.

SF_Array.InsertSorted(Array_1D As Variant, Item As Variant, SortOrder As String, CaseSensitive As Boolean) As Variant

Array_1D : The array to sort. Item : The scalar value to insert, of the same type as the existing array items. SortOrder : "ASC" (default) or "DESC". CaseSensitive : Only for string comparisons, default = False.

Sub Example_InsertSorted() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.InsertSorted(Array("A", "C", "a", "b"), "B", CaseSensitive := True) ' ("A", "B", "C", "a", "b") End Sub

Intersection -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Intersection

Intersection

Build a set, as a zero-based array, by applying the intersection set operator on the two input arrays. Resulting items are contained in both arrays.
The resulting array is sorted in ascending order.
Both input arrays must be filled homogeneously, in other words all items must be scalars of the same type. Empty and Null items are forbidden.
Text comparison can be case sensitive or not.

SF_Array.Intersection(Array1_1D As Variant, Array2_1D As Variant[, CaseSensitive As Boolean]) As Variant

Array1_1D : The first input array. Array2_1D : The second input array. CaseSensitive : Applies to arrays populated with text items, default = False.

Sub Example_Intersection() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Intersection(Array("A", "C", "A", "b", "B"), Array("C", "Z", "b"), True) ' ("C", "b") End Sub

Join2D -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Join2D

Join2D

Join a two-dimensional array with two delimiters, one for the columns, one for the rows.

SF_Array.Join2D(Array_2D As Variant, ColumnDelimiter As String, RowDelimiter As String, Quote As Boolean) As String

Array_2D : Each item must be either text, a number, a date or a boolean.
Dates are transformed into the YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss format.
Invalid items are replaced by a zero-length string. ColumnDelimiter : Delimits each column (default = Tab/Chr(9)). RowDelimiter: delimits each row (default = LineFeed/Chr(10)) Quote : if True, protect strings with double quotes. The default is False.

Sub Example_Join2D() - | 1, 2, "A", [2020-02-29], 5 | - SF_Array.Join_2D(| 6, 7, "this is a string", 9, 10 |, ",", "/") - ' "1,2,A,2020-02-29 00:00:00,5/6,7,this is a string,9,10" End Sub

Prepend -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Prepend

Prepend

Prepend at the beginning of the input array the items listed as arguments.

SF_Array.Prepend(Array_1D As Variant, arg0 As Variant, [arg1 As Variant], ...) As Variant

Array_1D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. arg0, ... : a list of items to prepend to Array_1D.

Sub Example_Prepend() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Prepend(Array(1, 2, 3), 4, 5) ' (4, 5, 1, 2, 3) End Sub

PrependColumn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;PrependColumn

PrependColumn

Prepend to the left side of a two dimension array a new column. The resulting array has the same lower boundaries as the initial two dimension array.

SF_Array.PrependColumn(Array_2D As Variant, Column As Variant) As Variant

Array_2D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. If that array has 1 dimension, it is considered as the last column of the resulting 2 dimension array. Column : a 1 dimension array with as many items as there are rows in Array_2D.

Sub Example_PrependColumn() Dim a As Variant, b As variant a = SF_Array.PrependColumn(Array(1, 2, 3), Array(4, 5, 6)) ' ((4, 1), (5, 2), (6, 3)) b = SF_Array.PrependColumn(Array(), Array(1, 2, 3)) ' ∀ i ∈ {0 ≤ i ≤ 2} : b(0, i) ≡ i End Sub

PrependRow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;PrependRow

PrependRow

Prepend at the beginning of a two dimension array a new row. The resulting array has the same lower boundaries as the initial two dimension array.

SF_Array.PrependRow(Array_2D As Variant, Row As Variant) As Variant

Array_2D : the pre-existing array, may be empty. If that array has 1 dimension, it is considered as the last row of the resulting 2 dimension array. Row : a 1 dimension array containing as many items as there are rows in Array_2D.

Sub Example_PrependRow() Dim a As Variant, b As variant a = SF_Array.PrependRow(Array(1, 2, 3), Array(4, 5, 6)) ' ((4, 5, 6), (1, 2, 3)) b = SF_Array.PrependRow(Array(), Array(1, 2, 3)) ' ∀ i ∈ {0 ≤ i ≤ 2} : b(i, 0) ≡ i End Sub

RangeInit -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;RangeInit

RangeInit

Initialize a new zero-based array with numeric values.

SF_Array.RangeInit(From As [number], UpTo As [number] [, ByStep As [number]]) As Variant

From : value of the first item. UpTo : The last item should not exceed UpTo. ByStep : The difference between two successive items (default = 1).

Sub Example_RangeInit() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.RangeInit(10, 1, -1) ' (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) End Sub

Slice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Slice

Slice

Return a subset of a one dimension array.

SF_Array.Slice(Array_1D As Variant, From As Long, [UpTo As Long]) As Variant

Array_1D : The array to slice. From : The lower index in Array_1D of the subarray to extract (From included) UpTo : The upper index in Array_1D of the subarray to extract (UpTo included). Default = upper bound of Array_1D. If UpTo < From then the returned array is empty.

Sub Example_Slice() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Slice(Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5), 1, 3) ' (2, 3, 4) End Sub

Sort -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Sort

Sort

Sort a one dimension array in ascending or descending order. Text comparisons can be case-sensitive or not.
The array must be filled homogeneously, which means that items must be scalars of the same type.
Empty and Null items are allowed. Conventionally Empty < Null < any other scalar value.

SF_Array.Sort(Array_1D As Variant, SortOrder As String, CaseSensitive As Boolean) As Variant

Array_1D : The array to sort. SortOrder : "ASC" (default) or "DESC". CaseSensitive : Only for string comparisons, default = False.

Sub Example_Sort() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Sort(Array("a", "A", "b", "B", "C"), CaseSensitive := True) ' ("A", "B", "C", "a", "b") End Sub

SortColumns -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;SortColumns

SortColumns

Return a permutation of the columns of a two dimension array, sorted on the values of a given row.
The row must be filled homogeneously, which means that all items must be scalars of the same type.
Empty and Null items are allowed. Conventionally Empty < Null < any other scalar value.

SF_Array.SortColumns(Array_1D As Variant, RowIndex As Long, SortOrder As String, CaseSensitive As Boolean) As Variant

Array_1D : The array to sort. RowIndex : The index of the row to sort the columns on. SortOrder : "ASC" (default) or "DESC". CaseSensitive : Only for string comparisons, default = False.

Sub Example_SortColumns() - | 5, 7, 3 | ' | 7, 5, 3 | - SF_Array.SortColumns(| 1, 9, 5 |, 2, "ASC") ' | 9, 1, 5 | - | 6, 1, 8 | ' | 1, 6, 8 | End Sub

SortRows -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;SortRows

SortRows

Return a permutation of the rows of a two dimension array, sorted on the values of a given column.
The column must be filled homogeneously, therefore all items must be scalars of the same type.
Empty and Null items are allowed. Conventionally Empty < Null < any other scalar value.

SF_Array.SortRows(Array_1D As Variant, ColumnIndex As Long, SortOrder As String, CaseSensitive As Boolean) As Variant

Array_1D : The array to sort. RowIndex : The index of the column to sort the rows on. SortOrder : "ASC" (default) or "DESC". CaseSensitive : Only for string comparisons, default = False.

Sub Example_SortRows() - | 5, 7, 3 | ' | 1, 9, 5 | - SF_Array.SortRows(| 1, 9, 5 |, 2, "ASC") ' | 5, 7, 3 | - | 6, 1, 8 | ' | 6, 1, 8 | End Sub

TrimArray -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;TrimArray

TrimArray

Remove from a one dimension array all Null, Empty and zero-length entries.
String items are trimmed with %PRODUCTNAME Basic Trim() function.

SF_Array.TrimArray(Array_1D As Variant) As Variant

Array_1D : The array to scan.

Sub Example_TrimArray() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.TrimArray(Array("A","B",Null," D ")) ' ("A","B","D") End Sub

Union -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Union

Union

Build a set, as a zero-based array, by applying the union operator on the two input arrays. Resulting items originate from both arrays.
The resulting array is sorted in ascending order.
Both input arrays must be filled homogeneously, their items must be scalars of the same type. Empty and Null items are forbidden.
Text comparison can be case sensitive or not.

SF_Array.Union(Array1_1D As Variant, Array2_1D As Variant[, CaseSensitive As Boolean]) As Variant

Array1_1D : The first input array. Array2_1D : The second input array. CaseSensitive : Only if the arrays are populated with strings, default = False.

Sub Example_Union() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Union(Array("A", "C", "A", "b", "B"), Array("C", "Z", "b"), True) ' ("A", "B", "C", "Z", "b") End Sub

Unique -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Array service;Unique

Unique

Build a set of unique values derived from the input array.
The input array must be filled homogeneously, its items must be scalars of the same type. Empty and Null items are forbidden.
Text comparison can be case sensitive or not.

SF_Array.Unique(Array_1D As Variant, CaseSensitive As Boolean]) As Variant

Array_1D : The input array. CaseSensitive : Only if the array is populated with texts, default = False.

Sub Example_Unique() Dim a As Variant a = SF_Array.Unique(Array("A", "C", "A", "b", "B"), CaseSensitive := True) ' ("A", "B", "C", "b") End Sub