VBScript in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

Filter Function

Syntax

Filter(SourceArray, FilterString[, Switch[, Compare]])

SourceArray

Use: Required

Data Type: String or numeric

An array containing values to be filtered.

FilterString

Use: Required

Data Type: String or numeric

The string of characters to find in the source array.

Switch

Use: Optional

Data Type: Boolean

A Boolean (True or False) value. If True, the default value, Filter includes all matching values in result; if False, Filter excludes all matching values (or, to put it another way, includes all nonmatching values).

Compare

Use: Optional

Data Type: Long

An optional constant (possible values are 0, vbBinaryCompare; 1, vbTextCompare) that indicates the type of string comparison to use. The default value is 0, vbBinaryCompare.

Return Value

A String array of the elements filtered from SourceArray.

Description

Produces an array of matching values from an array of source values that either match or don’t match a given filter string. In other words, individual elements are copied from a source array to a target array if they either match or don’t match a filter string.

Rules at a Glance

• The default Switch value is True.

• The default Compare value is 0, vbBinaryCompare.

• vbBinaryCompare is case-sensitive; that is, Filter matches both character and case. In contrast, vbTextCompare is case-insensitive, matching only character regardless of case.

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• SourceArray elements that are Empty or that contain zero-length strings (“”) are ignored by the Filter function.

• The array ...