by Brett A. Paul (1 Submission)
Category: String Manipulation
Compatability: Visual Basic 3.0
Difficulty: Intermediate
Date Added: Wed 3rd February 2021
Rating: 
(2 Votes)
This function searches a text string for possible phone numbers and returns an array of those numbers. It allows you to specify a default area code, too. (If you know an easier or more elegant way to do this, let me know!) Doesn't work for international numbers.
Inputs
Text - Text to be searched for phone numbers
DefaultAreaCode - if a 7-digit phone number is found, this goes on the front of it
Code Returns
Variant: Array of phone numbers. The array is dimensioned at 0 to start, so if the return's UBound is 0, no phone numbers were found.
VBcodersFunction FindPhoneNo(ByVal strAdText As String, _
strDefaultAreaCode As String) As Variant
' By Brett A. Paul - http://www.mitagroup.com/
' This routine takes the incoming ad text and abstracts it out
' (strAbstract) to perform some basic pattern matching. It also
' builds a parallel real string (strReal) so that it knows where the
' patterns came from and what they really are. Using this technique,
' the routine builds patterns, then examines them for phone number
' patterns.
Dim aPossible() As String ' This will hold the result set
Dim strReal As String ' This will hold the pattern-modified real numbers
Dim strAbstract As String ' This holds the pattern of the string
Dim strChar As String * 1 ' Holds 1 letter at a time from input string
Dim ptrWhere As Long ' Used in InStr functions
Dim ptrChar As Integer
Dim ptrPossible As Integer ' Points to last used possible array loc
ReDim aPossible(0) ' Will return array with element 0 if no #s found
' Remove dollar amounts from string
Do
ptrWhere = InStr(strAdText, "$")
If ptrWhere Then
' If a "$" is found, remove all numbers that appear after the
' "$". Note: This would need to be changed to allow for
' decimal places.
Do While IsNumeric(Mid$(strAdText, ptrWhere + 1, 1))
strAdText = Left$(strAdText, ptrWhere) & Right$(strAdText, _
Len(strAdText) - (ptrWhere + 1))
Loop
' Once the numbers are gone, take off the "$", too
strAdText = Left$(strAdText, ptrWhere - 1) & Right$(strAdText, _
Len(strAdText) - ptrWhere)
End If
Loop Until ptrWhere = 0
' Begin building abstract and real strings for pattern matching
strReal = ""
strAbstract = ""
For ptrChar = 1 To Len(strAdText)
' Pick up the next character in the input string
strChar = Mid$(strAdText, ptrChar, 1)
If InStr(",-() :;!#%&*/", strChar) Then
' If character is one of these symbols, add a "-"
' This allows for phone numbers like (800) 555-1212
' or 800/555-1212, or however else people like to write
' phone numbers
If Right$(strAbstract, 1) <> "-" And _
Right$(strAbstract, 1) <> ">" Then
strAbstract = strAbstract & "-"
strReal = strReal & "-"
End If
ElseIf IsNumeric(strChar) Then
' If character is numeric, add a "#"
strAbstract = strAbstract & "#"
strReal = strReal & strChar
Else
' If the character is something else, add "-" for the first
' character, or <-> for more than one character.
Select Case Right$(strAbstract, 1)
Case ",", "#", ""
strAbstract = strAbstract & "<->"
strReal = strReal & "<->"
Case ">" ' Nothing to do - already has delimiter
Case "-"
strAbstract = Left$(strAbstract, _
Len(strAbstract) - 1) & "<->"
strReal = Left$(strReal, Len(strReal) - 1) & "<->"
End Select
End If
Next ptrChar
' When two phone numbers appear right next to each other, they may
' blend together in the pattern. To isolate each phone number,
' separate the two with a delimiter <->. This is done by looking for
' places where a dash and four numbers in a row are followed by
' another dash in the abstract pattern
Do
ptrWhere = InStr(strAbstract, "-####-")
If ptrWhere Then
strAbstract = Left$(strAbstract, ptrWhere + 4) & "<->" & _
Right$(strAbstract, Len(strAbstract) - (ptrWhere + 5))
strReal = Left$(strReal, ptrWhere + 4) & "<->" & _
Right$(strReal, Len(strReal) - (ptrWhere + 5))
End If
Loop Until ptrWhere = 0
' Now that the patterns are ready, search for phone number patterns.
ptrPossible = 0
Do
' Begin by searching for ###-####
ptrWhere = InStr(strAbstract, "###-####")
If ptrWhere Then ' Found a phone number
If Mid$(strAbstract, ptrWhere + 8, 1) = "#" Then
' Too many numbers; this is not really a phone number.
' Remove the substring
strAbstract = Left$(strAbstract, ptrWhere - 1) & _
Right$(strAbstract, Len(strAbstract) - _
(ptrWhere + 7))
strReal = Left$(strReal, ptrWhere - 1) & _
Right$(strReal, Len(strReal) - (ptrWhere + 7))
Else
If ptrWhere > 4 Then ' Check for inclusion of area code
If Mid$(strAbstract, ptrWhere - 4, 4) = "###-" Then
' Area code included
' Add phone number to list of possibles
ptrPossible = ptrPossible + 1
ReDim Preserve aPossible(ptrPossible)
aPossible(ptrPossible) = Mid$(strReal, ptrWhere - 4, 12)
' Extract the substring from the abstract and
' real string so they don't get in the way of the
' next search
strAbstract = Left$(strAbstract, ptrWhere - 5) & _
Right$(strAbstract, Len(strAbstract) - _
(ptrWhere + 7))
strReal = Left$(strReal, ptrWhere - 5) & _
Right$(strReal, Len(strReal) - _
(ptrWhere + 7))
Else
' Area code not included - use default
' Add phone number to list of possibles
ptrPossible = ptrPossible + 1
ReDim Preserve aPossible(ptrPossible)
aPossible(ptrPossible) = strDefaultAreaCode & _
"-" & Mid$(strReal, ptrWhere, 8)
' Extract the substring from the abstract
' and real string so they don't get in the way of
' the next search
strAbstract = Left$(strAbstract, ptrWhere - 1) & _
Right$(strAbstract, Len(strAbstract) _
- (ptrWhere + 7))
strReal = Left$(strReal, ptrWhere - 1) & _
Right$(strReal, Len(strReal) - _
(ptrWhere + 7))
End If
Else
' Too close to the front of the string - can't
' have area code
' Use default area code
' Add phone number to list of possibles
ptrPossible = ptrPossible + 1
ReDim Preserve aPossible(ptrPossible)
aPossible(ptrPossible) = strDefaultAreaCode & "-" & _
Mid$(strReal, ptrWhere, 8)
' Extract the substring from the abstract
' and real string so they don't get in the way
' of the next search
strAbstract = Left$(strAbstract, ptrWhere - 1) & _
Right$(strAbstract, Len(strAbstract) - _
(ptrWhere + 7))
strReal = Left$(strReal, ptrWhere - 1) & _
Right$(strReal, Len(strReal) - (ptrWhere + 7))
End If
End If
End If
Loop Until ptrWhere = 0
' Finished! Set function result to the array of possible phone numbers
FindPhoneNo = aPossible
Exit_FindPhoneNo:
Exit Function
End Function
Function TestIt()
Dim aPhoneNumbers() As String
Dim ptrNumber As Long
aPhoneNumbers = FindPhoneNo("blah blah blah (800) - 555 - 1212 blah 555 1212 blah 350319 340193 blah blah 800/349/49/40 bl 800/349/0044 ah ", "800")
For ptrNumber = 1 To UBound(aPhoneNumbers)
Debug.Print aPhoneNumbers(ptrNumber)
Next ptrNumber
End Function
