Strip units in OBX-5

[ohrhull]

Hello, I’m attempting to strip out units of measurement in OBX-5 fields when I receive them from a vendor.  In many OBXs they are going to send a value such as “14.8 cm” or “147.0 grams” etc.  I would also like to move that unit of measurement into the OBX-6 field.

I am planning to use a translation I already have built.  I know this can be done via xlateStr commands or tcl code within the COPY action.  I have tried both and keep getting tripped up with the syntax/formatting of it.  Does anyone have experience doing this in a simple manner lately?

Topic

[Jim Kosloskey]

I am assuming you want to strip out some text from the OBX-5 field and place that in OBX-6. I will assume by your example, the text can vary in length and content. If that is true, then you need some sort of ‘anchor’ I think.

For example, if the text always began or ended with something you can count on, or the following text always began a certain way, or there are a predictable number of spaces, or it starts the text for a specific length. That knowledge will help construct a reliable solution.

BTW – shameful plug – I have a package that goes into a lot of detail regarding the STRING Action Functions and includes some additional functions I have written. You can have a copy if you email me (email in signature).

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 30+ years Cloverleaf, 61 years IT – old fart.

[Paul Bishop]

Will the value in OBX-5 always be in “<measurement> <unit>” with space between the two?  Will there ever be a measurement with an embedded space?  What about a unit with an embedded space?  This is easily done if there are no spaces in the measurement.  use the lindex command to pull parts out.  TCL snippet:

lassign xlateInVals in_obx_5
set out_obx_5 [lindex $in_obx_5 0]
set out_obx_6 [lindex $in_obx_5 1]
set xlateOutVals

Your source would be the OBX-5.0 field and your destination would be both the OBX-5.0 field and OBX-6.0 field (or variables if you’d like) – just make sure both are listed since you’re outputting two values.

If there are spaces in the units value, the second lindex would be changed to a lrange: “lrange $in_obx_5 1 end”

This is just one way to do it – I’m sure others will come up with different solutions.

Paul Bishop
Carle Foundation Hospital
Urbana, IL

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