lineoffset question

[Alex Tweedly]

note that for the jbv's case, we need to use the 'string' variant of 
find in case there are spaces etc. in the string to be found.

    set the text of fld Fhidden to myList
    find string myvar in fld Fhidden
    put the foundline .....

Also, dictionary says that the "offset" functions are generally faster 
than the "find" command, and note that you would still need to do 
something like 'put line x of myList into tLine', so I'm not sure 
there's much saving from using find rather than a loop with "lineoffset 
+ linestoskip" - even if  we do remember or find the name of the 
revFind... function.

Alex.

On 09/10/2026 17:31, Craig Newman via use-livecode wrote:
> Ever since HC days, the workings of the “find command, that is, each “find” remembers its container location, can be exploited. Assuming you have multiple instances of the string “bbb” in a container (in this example, a field 1):
>
> on mouseUp
>
>    repeat while the result is empty
>
>      find "bbb" in fld 1
>
>      put word 2 of the foundLine & return after tLinesFound
>
>    end repeat
>
> answer tLinesFound
>
> end mouseUp
>
>
>
> Craig
>
>
>> On Oct 9, 2026, at 9:03 AM, Mike Kerner via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>>
>> have you tried using regex for this? it should be blazing fast.
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 9, 2026 at 3:41 AM jbv via use-livecode <
>> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi list,
>>>
>>> When lineoffset returns a value greater than 0, that
>>> means the string to search has been found.
>>> But is there a way to get the content of the found line ?
>>>
>>> Of course, I can use :
>>>    get lineoffset(myVar,myList)
>>>    if it > 0 then
>>>      put line it of myList into tline
>>>    end if
>>>
>>> But when myList is very long, and when many lines are
>>> successively found, the script has to count the lines
>>> each time and it becomes very slow.
>>>
>>> There is also the option to split the lines of myList
>>> into an array :
>>>    put myList into Tlist using return
>>>    get lineoffset(myVar,myList)
>>>    if it > 0 then
>>>      put Tlist[it] into tline
>>>    end if
>>>
>>> But then again, splitting the list can be slow if it's
>>> very long.
>>>
>>> IMHO it would be a great improvement to get the content
>>> of the line in which the string to search has been found.
>>> For instance, if nothing has been found, the returned value
>>> would still be zero.
>>> And if the string to search has been found, the returned
>>> value could be as follows :
>>> line 1 -> the line number
>>> line 2 -> the content of the found line
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> jbv
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> On the first day, God created the heavens and the Earth
>> On the second day, God created the oceans.
>> On the third day, God put the animals on hold for a few hours,
>>    and did a little diving.
>> And God said, "This is good."
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