Re: Parsing Names...

[Jerry Adams <jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The thread offered some examples of confusing, mixed format data, which 
makes parsing problematic.  Many years ago I had to do this (in RPG II 
no less).  The classic problem name that we had to consider was Jan Van 
Breda Koff ( an all SEC guard at the time).  If you aren't familiar with 
the name, know that Van Breda Koff is the dude's last name. 

The tapes that we received had names with delimiters (sometimes a comma, 
sometimes a slash) and names without delimiters.  Fortunately most of 
the names on a single tape were known to be in either first-name first, 
or last-name first.  Analysis of the data took a couple of weeks.  Then 
we had to define logic that tried to determine the format of each names 
(Is there a non-character in the field?  Then that's a delimiter.), then 
define algorithms for each case.  But then we had humans go over the 
list (James Rich, Rich James?).

So-called modern technology hasn't helped a bit in this situation.  My 
mother got a mass mailing last week addressed to "Mrs. C. Adams".  Was 
that stripped from my middle initial for targeting the "woman of the 
house?"  How much one spends of defining the rules and post-conversion 
clean-up will depend upon how critical the data is.  A mass mailer will 
try to eliminate duplicates automatically to save postage, but anything 
more is probably spending a dime to save a nickel (i.e., not worth the 
effort).  For other purposes, it may be worth the cost to scrub the data 
more thoroughly. 


	* Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
B&W Wholesale Distributors, Inc.* *
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Wilt, Charles wrote:
> Here's a nice thread discussing the difficulty of "Parsing Names" with any language....
>
> http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l/200601/msg00328.html
>
>
> Charles Wilt 
> --
> Software Engineer
> CINTAS Corporation - IT 92B
> 513.701.1307
>
> wiltc@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>   
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-
> > bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wilt, Charles
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 4:52 PM
> > To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> > Subject: RE: Parsing Names...
> >
> > What do you mean "various formats"?
> >
> > Do you have a fixed set of rules to follow?
> >
> > Depending on the rules, RPGLE could handle the job nicely using the
> > %scan() and %subst() built in
> > functions.
> >
> > IF the string processing in RPG isn't enough, you can consider calling
> > APIs to use Regular Expressions
> > (regex) from RPG or use a language like Java or REXX(?) that has built in
> > regex processing.
> >
> > HTH,
> >
> > Charles Wilt
> > --
> > Software Engineer
> > CINTAS Corporation - IT 92B
> > 513.701.1307
> >
> > wiltc@xxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >
> >     
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-
> > > bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Turnidge
> > > Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 4:20 PM
> > > To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> > > Subject: Parsing Names...
> > >
> > > I have just been tasked with taking Excel files that contain full names
> > >       
> > -
> >     
> > > in
> > > various formats - and I am to break them into first, middle and last.
> > >
> > > Years ago I did a lot of this in Foxpro, but I haven't done that for
> > > longer
> > > than I can remember. So, I'm looking for something in RPG that could do
> > > the
> > > job.
> > >
> > > Other than that, I might be able to mess with something in Basic <fear
> > >       
> > in
> >     
> > > eyes>...
> > >
> > > Any recommendations appreciated - Thank you in advance.
> > >
> > > Dave Turnidge
> > > --
> > > This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
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