>>Hi everybody,
>>
>>I have a character string representing Style which consists of the following portions:
>>
>>Color (1 letter with - or without -) Type (one or 2 letters) Number portion (could be any number but usually no more than 5 digits and not less than 2) then Stone (1 letter) then quality (number) then color quality (1 letter), e.g. for example:
>>W-4568S5B
>>E460D4
>>E94E
>>
>>Now, all these portions are optional except for number portion. My task is to get the number portion first, then try to search, if we have a file with the same number, same first portion, same stone (if it was present), different quality. Then if there are no files with the same stone, I need to do other string manipulations.
>>
>>Can you help me to get Number portion first?
>>
>>Thanks in advance.
>
>try
>

>? str(ABS(val(SUBSTR('W-4568S5B',2))))
>? str(ABS(val(SUBSTR('E460D4',2))))
>? str(ABS(val(SUBSTR('E94E',2))))
>

There is a catch here, with E after the number and a number, like E94E5. Also there could be situation when I don't have the first letter, or have NK as the first portion.

I'm thinking: replace all letters and - with some common letter, say, X. Then apply alines() function using X as delimiter. This way I would get my number portion and also a quality, if it present.