Prev: Unprotect problem
Next: Delete 3 end row
From: Ron Rosenfeld on 12 Apr 2010 23:18
On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:31:48 GMT, "Father John" <w(a)b.com> wrote:

>Hi
>
>I have a spreadsheet that has a complete address in one column (a)
>In column (b) (B1:B165) I have the name of the suburbs I wish to remove from
>col (a)
>
>Start
>Col (A)
>15 Smith Street Blacktown
>
>Col (B7) contains the suburb Blacktown (I have 165 suburbs in this column)
>
>I want to remove that same data from (A) so I just end up with 15 Smith
>Street.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks in advance - Stephen

There is a potential problem with Max's solution if one suburb name is a part
of a subsequent suburb name, or if a suburb name happens to also be a street
name. The problem arises because Max's algorithm does not check that the
position of the match is at the end of the string.

I took a list of eastern Sydney suburbs.

These include, among others

Bondi
Bondi Beach
Bondi Junction

If you have addresses in Bondi Beach, or Bondi Junction, Max's formula will
only remove Bondi.

In other words:

17 Doolittle Place Bondi Beach --> 17 Doolittle Place Beach

One possible solution is to manually ensure that the order of suburbs is such
that the shortest name (assessed by fewest number of words) is at the bottom of
the list, so that those suburbs are listed as

Bondi Junction
Bondi Beach
Bondi

Another issue can arise if a suburb name happens to be part of the address.

For example, Mascot and Eastlakes are both eastern Sydney suburbs. So,
depending on the sort direction,

17 Mascot St Eastlakes might --> 17 St Eastlakes.

Here is a User Defined Function that uses a Regular Expression to ensure the
Suburb name being matched does, indeed, occur at the end of the string.

To enter this User Defined Function (UDF), <alt-F11> opens the Visual Basic
Editor.
Ensure your project is highlighted in the Project Explorer window.
Then, from the top menu, select Insert/Module and
paste the code below into the window that opens.

To use this User Defined Function (UDF), enter a formula like

C1: =RemSuburb(A1,$B$1:$B$165)

and fill down as needed.

===========================================
Option Explicit
Function RemSuburb(Address As String, Suburbs As Range) As String
Dim re As Object
Dim SuburbString As String
Dim c As Range

For Each c In Suburbs
'create pipe-delimited list of Suburbs
If Len(c.Value) > 0 Then
SuburbString = SuburbString & Trim(c.Value) & "|"
End If
Next c
'remove last pipe
SuburbString = Left(SuburbString, Len(SuburbString) - 1)

Set re = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
re.Pattern = "\s(" & SuburbString & ")$"

RemSuburb = re.Replace(Trim(Address), "")
End Function
=================================================
--ron
From: Ron Rosenfeld on 13 Apr 2010 06:24
On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:18:48 -0400, Ron Rosenfeld <ronrosenfeld(a)nospam.org>
wrote:

>There is a potential problem with Max's solution if one suburb name is a part
>of a subsequent suburb name, or if a suburb name happens to also be a street
>name. The problem arises because Max's algorithm does not check that the
>position of the match is at the end of the string.

Of course, even with this solution, one could still have suburb name
combinations that would return unwanted results, if the repeated word were at
the end of the suburb name, and occurred first in order.
--ron
First  |  Prev  | 
Pages: 1 2 3
Prev: Unprotect problem
Next: Delete 3 end row