RANGEPAR

Name

rangepar

Purpose (one Line)

Parse a string with numbers and ranges to get an expanded list of numbers.

Description

You can provide single numbers or a range of numbers. Ranges are
delineated by a hyphen (for example 120-125). Ranges or single numbers
are separated by either a comma or space. Spaces (even multiples) are
tolerated anywhere. But, only one comma is allowed between numbers or
ranges. The string can have an optional exclusion descriptor. Anything
after the first 'x' is used as an exclusion set (ranges or numbers,
same syntax).
For example, the string '100-105x103' would return [100,101,102,104,105]
as an array of integers.
If the input is [100,101,102,104,105] the result would be '100-102,105-105'

Calling Sequence

rangepar,input,output

Inputs

input - if input is a string, it is parsed to generate a list of numbers
(see description)
if input is an array of numbers it is converted to a string.

Optional Input Parameters

Keyword Parameters

Outputs

output - string or integer array depending on the input.

Common Blocks

Side Effects

Restrictions

In the reverse conversion (from numbers to a string), the routine
will handle negative numbers but will produce output like -5--3
which rangepar can't parse in the other direction. Also, the
'x' construct is not used in this direction. Thus there is no
promise that applying rangepar twice will return you to an
identical starting point (though the implied list is the same).

Procedure

Modification History

2001/07/25 - Written by Marc W. Buie, Lowell Observatory.
2008/12/05 - Peter L. Collins, Lowell Observatory, added /REVERSE.
2009/11/19, MWB, removed REVERSE and made operation context dependent.