Is there a repeat characters function?

17 Aug 2006 2:51 PM

John L. Whelan

Hi Everyone:

I know that I can repeat a single character using the StrDup function. Is
there a function that will allow me to repeat a string? StrDup(5,"John")
returns "JJJJJ." Is there a function (or workaround) that will
return"JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn"?

Thanks in advance.

John

--
John L. Whelan
College Librarian
College of the North Atlantic
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL

17 Aug 2006 2:56 PM

Cor Ligthert [MVP]

John,

Even if it did exist I would do it in this way

dim John as String
For i as integer = 0 to 4
John += "John"
Next

(And if it exist you can be sure that it is done internal the same)

I would not take the time to search

Cor

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"John L. Whelan" <John.Whe***@cna.nl.ca> schreef in bericht
news:81E90071-1AC1-4A61-B67F-C4DB1D46F83C@microsoft.com...
> Hi Everyone:
>
> I know that I can repeat a single character using the StrDup function. Is
> there a function that will allow me to repeat a string? StrDup(5,"John")
> returns "JJJJJ." Is there a function (or workaround) that will
> return"JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn"?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> John
>
> --
> John L. Whelan
> College Librarian
> College of the North Atlantic
> Grand Falls-Windsor, NL

17 Aug 2006 3:00 PM

sweet_dreams

John L. Whelan napisal(a):

> Hi Everyone:
>
> I know that I can repeat a single character using the StrDup function. Is
> there a function that will allow me to repeat a string? StrDup(5,"John")
> returns "JJJJJ." Is there a function (or workaround) that will
> return"JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn"?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> John

Hi,

I don't know such a function but I wrote for you one:

Private Function Repeat(ByVal StringToRepeat As String, ByVal
HowManyTimes As Integer)
        Dim Result As String = ""
        For i As Integer = 1 To HowManyTimes
            Result += StringToRepeat
        Next
        Return Result
    End Function

Hope this helps,
sweet_dreams

17 Aug 2006 3:06 PM

Claes Bergefall

Don't think there is a built in way, but it's not so hard to build a
function that does it. Try this:

Public Function StrDup(ByVal count As Integer, ByVal value As String) As
String
    Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder
    While count > 0
        sb.Append(value)
        count -= 1
    End While
    Return sb.ToString()
End Function

   /claes

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"John L. Whelan" <John.Whe***@cna.nl.ca> wrote in message
news:81E90071-1AC1-4A61-B67F-C4DB1D46F83C@microsoft.com...
> Hi Everyone:
>
> I know that I can repeat a single character using the StrDup function. Is
> there a function that will allow me to repeat a string? StrDup(5,"John")
> returns "JJJJJ." Is there a function (or workaround) that will
> return"JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn"?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> John
>
> --
> John L. Whelan
> College Librarian
> College of the North Atlantic
> Grand Falls-Windsor, NL

20 Aug 2006 3:21 PM

Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]

Claes (and Andrew),
I would recommend setting the capacity of the StringBuilder when you create
it, this will prevent any intermediate reallocations of its internal buffer.
Especially in this case where you have a clear indication of how large the
final string will be.

| Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder(count * value.Length)

The "count * value.Length" causes the StringBuilder to allocate a "count *
value.Length" character buffer.

Remember that New StringBuilder() allocates a 16 character buffer, which it
then doubles each time it (the buffer) needs to be expanded.

If you want "John" duplicated 500 times, StringBuilder will need to
reallocate its buffer a number of a significant # of times. These
reallocations can cause a performance problem in that the buffer itself
needs to be copied each time it is reallocated, plus each old buffer will
add pressure to the GC...

In cases where I don't have a clear indication of how large the final string
will be I try to use a guesstimate. For example the average/typical length
of the final string.

--
Hope this helps
Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]
..NET Application Architect, Enthusiast, & Evangelist
T.S. Bradley - http://www.tsbradley.net

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17 Aug 2006 4:26 PM

Andrew Morton

John L. Whelan wrote:

> Hi Everyone:
>
> I know that I can repeat a single character using the StrDup
> function. Is there a function that will allow me to repeat a string?
> StrDup(5,"John") returns "JJJJJ." Is there a function (or workaround)
> that will return"JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn"?

I can do this!

Dim s As String
s = StrDup(5, "x")
s = s.Replace("x", "John")

Or for a longer string:-

Dim b As New StringBuilder
b.Append("x", 500)
b.Replace("x", "John")

Andrew