RegEXPRESSION help with non-standard reading of a number range

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I am parsing some text and need to look within an individual sentence (already parsed).

I am looking to pull a numeric range. The problem is, the range is identified with a "dash", a "dash with spaces", or simply the word "to" or "through" and sometimes includes a degree symbol on one or both numbers. It also may have an additional character after the degree symbol (which is not always a standard degree symbol. The actual numbers can be anything....

Examples:

HTML

30-70°
30 - 70°
30°-70°
30°C-70°C
30° to 70° C
30°C-70°C
30 to 70°C

etc, any combination of the examples.

Also, sometimes the "degree" symbol is not compliant.

The sentence may also include two ranges, such as:

HTML

30°C-70°C (68°F-85°F)

I am stumped, but the users don't seem to understand why this is so hard.
Again, it could be 3° to 8° just as well, it is just a number range.

Any hard-core experts know where to start? A START would be great even if the entire scenario is unclear or not doable. If I can cull the low-hanging fruit I can convince the managers that we simply cannot automate the entire process.....

Let me add: it get's even more complicated: it may say Temperature above/below 70° or not to exceed... but I really want the range if it is available. Meaning, the sentence may have only ONE number and no range, and that number may be expressed in both F and C. Help me almighty coding people.....

Buddy

Posted 14-May-13 17:18pm

Buddy Farrell

Updated 22-May-13 11:20am

Kenneth Haugland

v4

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Comments

_Damian S_ 15-May-13 1:51am

Where is the data coming from? This is less a regex issue and more like a data issue. Parsing really bad data will yield reasonable results if it follows one of several formats, but completely random text is almost impossible to deal with.

Are you stuck with the data coming through however it comes, or can you enforce better data entry at another point in the system to make your life easier?

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 2:21am

Thanks Damian,
I did not notice the reply option so there are some comments and an excellent suggestion by another member!

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 1:56am

Damian,
The data is coming from XML documents out of my control. This is not an issue of poor internal data management. I need to parse these documents and try to make sense of them. The source is the US government.

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 2:02am

I see it as completely a regEx issue, if it can be tackled at all.

Prasad Khandekar 15-May-13 2:06am

Hello,

Damian is right. However if incoming data format is not in your control then for whatever sample data you have provided you can use following regular expression.

(\d{2})(?:°?\s?[C|F]?)(?:\s?(-|to)\s?)(\d{2})(?:°\s?[C|F]?)

You may want to use an excellent regular expression testing tool called Expresso available at http://www.ultrapico.com.
Regards,

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 2:20am

Thanks Prasad,
I've been commenting and did not notice the reply option. I will try this and see if it is a step forward for me!

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 20:57pm

This got me in the right direction, and solved MANY of my out-standing's. I had to do some modifications: sometimes all are in (), sometimes there are spaces not expected, the degree symbol is completely not standard so I had to look for the strange ones, I found other extraneous ways of saying "to", such as through, and, --, etc. But I thank you VERY much.

Also, while 98 or so % give are C the F, some are F/C. So, if either is found, I would like to know which set of numbers I am dealing with!

I now am working on the ones that don't give a range and simply state "above", "below", etc. My main prob is I need the Negative numbers (I need that minus sign). I also need to know, if it was given, whether it was in C or F. Can you point me in the general direction of how to output variable/not required data? That way I can capture the C/F/- and work from there. This is all new to me, but I am competent in programming.

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 2:10am

I will certainly try that tomorrow!!! Thanks, I am not looking for lessons on data management, but the ability to parse this crappy data. Believe me, I've parsed and created decisions based on a lot of factors. It is only when certain keywords (freeze, refrigerate, room temperature, all varieties there-of, etc) are not included and I am left ONLY with a range or single number [but have been able to isolate the sentence based on other keywords] that I have been stumped, because it is in free-text and I see a huge variety of factors as described. I will let you know if that expression helps.

that said, anybody else can pipe in too!

Thanks Prasad!

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 2:12am

To give you even more context, I THEN need to decide, based upon the number and temperature identifier, if it is "room temp" or "refrigeration". i.e., 2°C is refrigeration, but 30°C is not. I will tackle that After.

Buddy Farrell 15-May-13 2:14am

Also, @Prasad, I already have Expresso and that is how I will test before coding....

Prasad Khandekar 16-May-13 10:33am

Hello,

Try with the following expression

(\d{2})(°?\s?[C|F]?)(\s?)(-|to)(\s?)(\d{2})(°\s?[C|F]?)

Regards,

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This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Maciej Los · Answer 1 · 2013-05-22T09:37:00

Test it:

VB

'need reference to MS VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5
Sub CheckDegrees()
Dim sTmp As String, sPattern As String
Dim iCounter As Integer
Dim oRegex As VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
Dim oMatch As VBScript_RegExp_55.Match
Dim oMatchColl As VBScript_RegExp_55.MatchCollection

On Error GoTo Err_CheckDegrees

sTmp = "30-70°" & vbCr
sTmp = sTmp & "30 - 70°" & vbCrLf
sTmp = sTmp & "30°-70°" & vbCrLf
sTmp = sTmp & "30°C-70°C" & vbCrLf
sTmp = sTmp & "30° to 70° C" & vbCrLf
sTmp = sTmp & "30°C-70°C" & vbCrLf
sTmp = sTmp & "30 to 70°C"

sPattern = "(\d{1,})(°?\s?[C|F]?)(\s?)(-|to)(\s?)(\d{1,2})(°\s?[C|F]?)"

Set oRegex = New VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
With oRegex
    .Pattern = sPattern
    .MultiLine = True
    .Global = True
    .IgnoreCase = False
    Set oMatchColl = .Execute(sTmp)
    
    For Each oMatch In oMatchColl
        iCounter = iCounter + 1
        MsgBox oMatch.Value & vbCr, vbInformation, iCounter
    Next
End With

Exit_CheckDegrees:
    On Error Resume Next
    Set oMatchColl = Nothing
    Set oMatch = Nothing
    Set oRegex = Nothing
    Exit Sub
    
Err_CheckDegrees:
    MsgBox Err.Description, vbExclamation, Err.Number
    Resume Exit_CheckDegrees

End Sub

RegEXPRESSION help with non-standard reading of a number range

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RegEXPRESSION help with non-standard reading of a number range

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