Originally Posted By: Exlax
I could do something like...

Code:
var %format_string = You are $iif(_ $+ [username] == _, not logged in, logged in as [username]) $+ .
var %reply = $eval($replacex(%format_string, [username], %username), 2)


This will always work. The only problem is, I would have to document that it MUST be done this way to avoid errors (If I were the only person using this script, it would not be a problem, but this is going to be available to the public, and I don't want to require them to do this).


The following alias should do what you need:
Code:
alias interpolate {
  var %s
  noop $regsub($1,/\\([a-z\d])/gi,\\ $!+ \1,%s)
  return $regsubex($2,/(.*)/, [ $replace(%s,[username],\1) ] )
}
The following example illustrates its usage:

//var -s %username = TEST, %format_string = $eval(You are $iif([username] == $null,not logged in.,logged in as [username].),0) | echo -a $interpolate(%format_string,%username)

However this method, although simple, is limited, in that you can't extend it to support more markers, eg [username] and [password] at the same time; for this you'd probably need an entirely different (and more lengthy/complex) approach.

Another, rather minor, limitation is that the user will not be able to use $regsubex itself properly in the format string.

I don't know how this part is going to be used, so I'll just warn you about one thing: allowing your script to evaluate a %format_string coming from remote users opens up a huge security hole, for example if a user includes $findfile in it. If it's only going to be used locally though (eg a user specifying a format string in the script's settings GUI for outgoing messages) this isn't an issue.


Edit: here's the extended version, turns out it didn't have to be all that different:
Code:
alias interpolate2 {
  if $0 < 3 || $0 !& 1 {
    echo -setic info $!interpolate2: invalid parameters
    halt
  }
  var %i = 2, %vars, %sub, %pattern, %2
  noop $regsub($1,/\\([a-z\d])/gi,\\ $!+ \1,%sub)
  while %i < $0 {
    %sub = $replace(%sub,$eval($ $+ %i,2),\ $+ $calc(%i / 2))
    %2 = $eval($ $+ $calc(%i + 1),2)
    %vars = %vars $+ %2
    %pattern = %pattern $+ (.{ $+ $len(%2) $+ })
    inc %i 2
  }
  return $regsubex(%vars,%pattern, [ %sub ] )
}
Usage is $interpolate2(format string,marker1,var1,marker2,var2,...), for example

$interpolate2(%format_string,[username],%username,[password],%password,[realname],%realname)

The limitation here is that the combined length of the values of all specified variables cannot exceed ~940 characters

An alternative and simpler way would be:

Code:
  ...
  var %s, %markers = username|password|...
  noop $regsub(%format_string,/([^ ])\[( %markers )\]/gix,\1 $!+ [\2],%s) $&
    $regsub(%s,/\[( %markers )\]([^ ])/gix,[\1] $!+ \2,%s) $&
    $regsub(%s,/\[( %markers )\]/gix,% $+ \1,%s) 
  var %reply = $eval(%s,2)
  ...

This assumes that your variables are named after the markers, eg %username for [username] etc. All you need to do here is edit the %markers variable. This method uses 3 calls to $regsub (as opposed to 2 before) but does not suffer from any of the aforementioned limitations and any performance difference should be negligible.

Last edited by qwerty; 16/02/08 02:43 AM.

/.timerQ 1 0 echo /.timerQ 1 0 $timer(Q).com