Is there an inverse function of *SysUtils.Format* in Delphi

Question

Has anyone written an \'UnFormat\' routine for Delphi?

What I\'m imagining is the inverse of SysUtils.Format and looks something like this

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Answer 1

I tend to take care of this using a simple parser. I have two functions, one is called NumStringParts which returns the number of "parts" in a string with a specific delimiter (in your case above the space) and GetStrPart returns the specific part from a string with a specific delimiter. Both of these routines have been used since my Turbo Pascal days in many a project.

function NumStringParts(SourceStr,Delimiter:String):Integer;
var
  offset : integer;
  curnum : integer;
begin
  curnum := 1;
  offset := 1;
  while (offset <> 0) do
    begin
      Offset := Pos(Delimiter,SourceStr);
      if Offset <> 0 then
        begin
          Inc(CurNum);
            Delete(SourceStr,1,(Offset-1)+Length(Delimiter));
        end;
    end;
  result := CurNum;
end;

function GetStringPart(SourceStr,Delimiter:String;Num:Integer):string;
var
  offset : integer;
  CurNum : integer;
  CurPart : String;
begin
  CurNum := 1;
  Offset := 1;
  While (CurNum <= Num) and (Offset <> 0) do
    begin
      Offset := Pos(Delimiter,SourceStr);
      if Offset <> 0 then
        begin
          CurPart := Copy(SourceStr,1,Offset-1);
          Delete(SourceStr,1,(Offset-1)+Length(Delimiter));
          Inc(CurNum)
        end
      else
        CurPart := SourceStr;
    end;
  if CurNum >= Num then
    Result := CurPart
  else
    Result := '';
end;

Example of usage:

 var
    st : string;
    f1,f2 : double; 
  begin
     st := 'a number 12.35 and another 13.415';
     ShowMessage('Total String parts = '+IntToStr(NumStringParts(st,#32)));
     f1 := StrToFloatDef(GetStringPart(st,#32,3),0.0);
     f2 := StrToFloatDef(GetStringPart(st,#32,6),0.0);
     ShowMessage('Float 1 = '+FloatToStr(F1)+' and Float 2 = '+FloatToStr(F2)); 
  end; 

These routines work wonders for simple or strict comma delimited strings too. These routines work wonderfully in Delphi 2009/2010.