search for partial match

See if this helps getting you started...

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Okay, I'll go through my code step-by-step.

Sub pmatch()
- This is a function declaration. Simply call pmatch() to run it.

Dim a As String
Dim b As Boolean
Dim c As String
- These are variable declarations. In VB 6.0, this is unneeded for most situations, but its good to have them here anyway.

a = UCase(InputBox("Type in something...", , "fdhr436e7aaerbobaj113ngbetji4531"))
c = UCase(InputBox("Type in what you are looking for...", , "bob"))
b = False
- What's happening here is I am populating the three variables with usable information. "a" contains a string, could be anything. "c" contains the string we are looking for inside of "a". "b" simply tells us if the string inside "c" was found inside "a". Seeing as how "b" is false, it hasn't been found yet. UCase takes the inputted string, and turns each character uppercase if not already done so.

EXAMPLE:

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For i = 0 To Len(a)
- This is a "For" loop. What this means is "Start at i=0, increment i after each loop until i=Len(a)". Len(a) is simply the number of characters inside the string "a". Say, for instance, a="george". Then, Len(a) would equal 6 since there are 6 characters in the word "george".

If Left(Right(a, Len(a) - i), Len(c)) = c Then
- This is the hard part. Since there is no way to tell the program to look at character 2, 3, and 4 of any particular string, I had to use the "Right" and "Left" functions. "Left" and "Right" both have two inputs: a string, and an integer (we'll call the integer "num" in this case). "Left" means take the inputted string, and keep "num" left-most characters in the string. Oppositely, "Right" means take the inputted string, and keep "num" right-most characters in the string. An example is shown below. This "If" statement is keeping "Len(a) - i" characters from the right, which changes as the loop progresses, and then, from that string, keeps 3 characters from the left and checks to see if this string equals c. If it does then we execute the following lines of code, otherwise, we do not.

EXAMPLE:

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MsgBox ("A partial match was found.")
b = True
i = Len(a)
- These three lines of code are what is executed if the string inside c is found. "i" is set to Len(a) simply so that the "for" loop with end.

End If
- This means that this is the end of the multi-line "If" statement. If this "If" statement was just one line (like the example below), then "End If" is unneeded.

EXAMPLE:

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Next i
- This is the end of the "For" loop. All this means is increment i by 1 after executing after each loop (until i=Len(a) of course).

If b = False Then MsgBox ("A partial match was not found.")
- If b is still false after that for loop, then "c" was not found in "a".

End Sub
- This is the end of the pmatch function.

I hope this helps!

Sorry about so much to take in! I just discovered the wonderful function called "mid". I have integrated it in the code below. This gets rid of that confusing Left/Right function call.

Here's what mid does. It takes a string and two numbers. The string is any combination of characters. The first number is the starting point in the string. The second number is how many characters, beginning at the starting point, do we want to keep.

EXAMPLE:

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NEW CODE:
(I only changed the confusing "Left/Right" if statement and changed the for loop to start at i=1 instead of i=0.)

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