loop logic problems

Question

Hello I have hit a wall on this project and am looking for some guidance. I am setting up a sub to loop through a text based file and return various figures. I ahve managed to get the number of characters to return with this: Dim i As StreamReader = New StreamReader(strFile) strFile = i.ReadToEnd Dim intChar As Integer = 0 For j = 0 To strFile.Length - 1 intChar += 1 Next j NumberOfCharacters = intChar j = 0 Then when I try to get a value returned for the number of linefeeds in the file I get the same number? Any ideas? my code: Dim chrFeed As String = ControlChars.Lf Dim intPara As Integer = 0 'This will loop through and count everytime the return(enter) key was struck. For Each chrFeed In strFile intPara += 1 Next NumberOfParagraphs = intPara Thanks for your help

peasncarrots · Answer

That got it thanks for the help Wiggum!

Adam Erstelle · Answer

You are not retrieving the current character of strFile. You are comparing the number of the character. Try getting the substring of strFile using j as the starting point for a length of 1. You then compare that value to chrFeed. In your example the first time through the loop you are saying: If 0 = chrFeed Then.... The next time the code would read If 1 = chrFeed Then.... If 2 = chrFeed Then.... That's why you always return 0 for intPara. Also to make your code a little easier to read remove the Else block of the If statement as it doesn't do anything.

peasncarrots · Answer

I can see this now thanks. Then I run into a similar problem sorry this one is eating me up. I created a for loop to capture each character in the file then run an if then else to evaluate the current character but get a return of 0. What am I missing? looks like this: For j = 0 To strFile.Length If j.ToString = chrFeed Then intPara += 1 Else intPara = intPara End If Next NumberOfParagraphs = intPara j = 0 TIA

Adam Erstelle · Answer

The problem appears to be with the following lines of code. For Each chrFeed In strFile intPara += 1 Next chrFeed is a string so basically you are saying For Each String In strFile. What you should do is capture each character in a loop and inside the loop compare it to the ControlChars.Lf (or CrLf...whichever returns the correct number). If the current character matches the criteria then add to your total. I'm assuming you have a test file and have manually counted each number...so you have a target number for your program. Also you don't need a loop for your first piece of logic. strFile.Length is good enough. I hope this helps.