Extract a Single Characted from a String

[Tommy_Alterax]

Hi Guys,

I'm wondering can Reg Ex tool be used (Without Text to columns) in order to extract the first alphabetical charater in a string when reading from left to right

12874-0001BDUSDXXXXXXXXX

For example above it would be "D" - Going from left to right

Thanks 🙂

[Tommy_Alterax]

Sorry that should be "B" above

[atcodedog05 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Tommy_Alterax 

Here is a workflow for the task.

Regextool config:

Output:

Hope this helps 🙂

If this post helps you please mark it as solution. And give a like if you dont mind 😀👍

[Tommy_Alterax]

Worked a dream - Thank You !!!!! 🙂 - Can you explain to me whats happening with the Reg ex tool here - What does tokenise mean ?

[atcodedog05 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Tommy_Alterax 

[[:alpha:]] is regex for alphabet character. By setting to tokenize it gets all the alphabetical character splitting them into columns depending on the numbers of columns set. Since i have set 1 it just showing one character column.

Hope this helps🙂

[Tommy_Alterax]

Stupied question - Why doesnt it keep other alpha characters in the string ?  (I dont want them just wondering) 

[atcodedog05 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Tommy_Alterax 

So just [[:alpha:]] is single character [[:alpha:]]+ is one or more. So + and * are used to catch more characters. Click on the option highlighted it will give you a list.

This link gives more idea on the usage

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/RegEx-Perl-Syntax-Guide/ta-p/1288

Hope this helps 🙂

[MarqueeCrew]

@Tommy_Alterax ,

Left to right it should be "B"....

left(trimleft([Field1],"0123456789-"),1)

This formula returns B.  It can be modified to read right to left too (unlike RegEx).  It also runs faster than RegEx.

Cheers,

Mark

[Tommy_Alterax]

Is it posible to use this regex in a formulae tool - For example I have 6 different data types - Only if it is equal to data type '3' do I want the reg ex to execute

[atcodedog05]

Hi @Tommy_Alterax 

Yes it is possible. Depending on the requirement.

Can you please me a sample data, expect output and explain the logic.

Will be happy to help 🙂