On Dec 4, 12:44*pm, JLatham wrote:
I think Bernie has provided an excellent code solution for you, tighter than
the one I wrote and was going to present, and gets the job done very well.. *
But I'll put mine up later as an alternative for 2 reasons: it shows a second
solution for the same problem, and also echos the output to the text file on
an Excel worksheet so you can get an idea of what was actually written (tabs
show up as little squares in the worksheet).

One good book for starting to learn VBA is
Visual Basic Programming for the Absolute Beginner, which you can see on
Amazon athttp://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-Programming-Absolute-Beginner/dp/0...

I have also tried to put together an introductory booklet for those trying
to learn VBA for Excel, and you're welcome to see if it might not add a
little to other books you find on the subject:http://www.jlathamsite.com/Teach/VBA...VBA_AnIntroduc...

OK, the code I promised you:

Sub ReadTextFile()
'reads .txt file and places it into an
'Excel worksheet and writes it to a
'tab delimited file named "tdfFile.csv"
'in the same folder with the source .txt file
'
* Const semicolon = ";"
* Const tabIndicator = "."

* Dim sourceFile As String ' the .txt file to be read
* Dim buffNum As Integer
* Dim rawData As String ' one line of data from the .txt file
* Dim splitText As Variant
* Dim tabCount As Integer
* Dim LC As Integer
* Dim rowCount As Long
* Dim outputText As String

* Dim delimitedFile As String
* Dim tdfBuffNum As Integer

* sourceFile = Application.GetOpenFilename
* If sourceFile = "False" Then
* * Exit Sub ' user cancelled
* End If
* 'set up the output file
* tdfBuffNum = FreeFile()
* delimitedFile = "tdfFile.csv"
* delimitedFile = Left(sourceFile, InStrRev(sourceFile, _
* *Application.PathSeparator)) & delimitedFile
* Open delimitedFile For Output As #tdfBuffNum
* 'clear contents of active sheet just so we
* 'can show what we're doing on it
* ActiveSheet.Cells.ClearContents
* Cells(1, 1) = "Output written to: " & delimitedFile
* rowCount = 2 ' initialize
* 'start reading the source file
* buffNum = FreeFile()
* Open sourceFile For Input As #buffNum
* Do While Not EOF(buffNum)
* * Line Input #buffNum, rawData
* * 'line must have a semicolon in it to use
* * If InStr(rawData, semicolon) 0 Then
* * * splitText = Split(rawData, semicolon)
* * * 'number of tabs needed depends on
* * * 'number of periods in the code part.
* * * 'Bernie's method is faster
* * * tabCount = 0
* * * For LC = 1 To Len(splitText(1))
* * * * If Mid(splitText(1), LC, 1) = tabIndicator Then
* * * * * tabCount = tabCount + 1
* * * * End If
* * * Next
* * * outputText = String(tabCount, vbTab) & _
* * * *splitText(0) & " [" & splitText(1) & "]"
* * * Print #tdfBuffNum, outputText
* * * 'echo to worksheet
* * * Cells(rowCount, 1) = outputText
* * * rowCount = rowCount + 1
* * End If
* Loop
* Close #buffNum
* Close #tdfBuffNum
End Sub



"JRC" wrote:
Dear all:

I am currently working on a rather large document that I need to
format a certain specific way. The document includes nearly 57,000
lines of plain text that need to be indented according to a simple
rule so that it can then be imported into an application as a tab-
delimited file.

My system is a Mac G5 running the latest version of Leopard (not Snow
Leopard) which is 10.5.8 and I have Microsoft Office 2004 installed
(haven't upgraded to 2008 and will probably wait until next version to
upgrade).

Below is an example of the type of file I now have:

Body Regions;A01
Abdomen;A01.047
Abdominal Cavity;A01.047.025
Peritoneum;A01.047.025.600
Douglas' Pouch;A01.047.025.600.225
Mesentery;A01.047.025.600.451
Mesocolon;A01.047.025.600.451.535
Omentum;A01.047.025.600.573
Peritoneal Cavity;A01.047.025.600.678
Peritoneal Stomata;A01.047.025.600.700
Retroperitoneal Space;A01.047.025.750
Abdominal Wall;A01.047.050
Groin;A01.047.365
Inguinal Canal;A01.047.412
Umbilicus;A01.047.849
Back;A01.176
Lumbosacral Region;A01.176.519
Sacrococcygeal Region;A01.176.780
Breast;A01.236
Mammary Glands, Human;A01.236.249

This is just a small portion of the file I am working with. This is a
"flat" text file but what I need is a "hierarchical" or "tree
structure" file where each of these lines is indented with a number
of
"tab keystrokes" corresponding to its level as depicted by the
alphanumeric code following the term. Example:

Body Regions;A01
* * *Abdomen;A01.047
* * * * * Abdominal Cavity;A01.047.025
* * * * * * * *Peritoneum;A01.047.025.600
* * * * * * * * * * Douglas' Pouch;A01.047.025.600.225
* * * * * * * * * * Mesentery;A01.047.025.600.451
* * * * * * * * * * * * *Mesocolon;A01.047.025.600.451.535
* * * * * * * * * * Omentum;A01.047.025.600.573
* * * * * * * * * * * * *Peritoneal Cavity;A01.047.025.600.678
* * * * * * * * * * Peritoneal Stomata;A01.047.025.600.700
* * * * * * * *Retroperitoneal Space;A01.047.025.750
* * * * * Abdominal Wall;A01.047.050
* * * * * Groin;A01.047.365
* * * * * Inguinal Canal;A01.047.412
* * * * * Umbilicus;A01.047.849
* * *Back;A01.176
* * * * * Lumbosacral Region;A01.176.519
* * * * * Sacrococcygeal Region;A01.176.780
* * *Breast;A01.236
* * * * * Mammary Glands, Human;A01.236.249

As you will notice each line has been indented using the tab key a
number of times corresponding to the size of the alphanumeric code.
Lines with an alphanumeric code containing only 3 characters stay on
the left most position (no tabs). Example:
Body Regions;A01

Lines with an alphanumeric code containing 7 characters (example:
A01.047) are indented with one single tab keystroke. Example:
* * *Abdomen;A01.047

Lines with an alphanumeric code containing 11 characters (example:
A01.047.025) are indented with two tab keystrokes. Example:
* * * * * Abdominal Cavity;A01.047.025

Lines with an alphanumeric code containing 15 characters (example:
A01.047.025.600) are indented with three tab keystrokes. Example:
* * * * * * * *Peritoneum;A01.047.025.600

And so on, and so forth.

Once this step is finished and the file has been edited from a flat
text to one with a hierarchical or tree structure using tab entries
(to derive a tab-delimited file) the second part of the project
involves the removal of certain characters and replacement with
others. Basically I need the format to go from the existing:

Abdominal Cavity;A01.047.025

Where the term is followed by a semicolon and alphanumeric code.

To the following:

Abdominal Cavity [A01.047.025]

Where a space is added after the term, the semicolon is removed and
brackets are placed at the beginning and end of the alphanumeric
code.

Considering the size of my document as I stated (little less than
57,000 entries) I would like to find a way to automate the process.

How can these two processes be accomplished with the use of a macro ?

I have never worked with macros before and any help would be extremely
valuable and appreciated. I have both Excel 04 and Word 04 as part of
the Office 2004 package in case the information is relevant. I am not
sure which of the applications would be better suited for this task
but am open to your suggestions.

Also I would appreciate suggestions on textbooks that would cover VBA
for Excel and Word. I would like to find books that would cover
everything *from A to Z but with an approach that makes it easy for a
beginner to understand and work with VBA on Microsoft Office for the
Mac. Any
recommendations will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help.

JRC
.

Hello, JLatham.


Thank you very much for your really helpful post and for the really
good suggestions. I have downloaded the document you created and will
study it either tonight or tomorrow night. Also I was very happy with
the book suggestion and will order me a copy as I am sure it will help
me.

Just as I posted to John and Bernie, I am having problems running the
routines you all have offered me. I am sure it has to do with my lack
of experience with VBA. Do you have any ideas as to what might be
causing this ?

Thank you for your really helpful and detailed post.

Best regards,


JRC