reading a number from a string

Hi all,

I've got a set of strings that are either [1x80] or [1x81], and I'm trying to parse an increasing number from the string. My problem occurs when the length of the string changes due to a number increment. A sample of the strings is:

str='(0020,0013) IS [98]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'
str='(0020,0013) IS [99]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'
str='(0020,0013) IS [100]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'
str='(0020,0013) IS [101]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'

I'd like to be able to parse the 98, 99, 100, 101 etc from the strings.

The format of the strings is identical, apart from the increasing number.

Currently I can use the following, which fails for the double digit numbers but works for the triple digits:

num=sscanf(str, '%*5c, %*10c %3s')

Any idea how I could make sure I always get the increasing number regardless of its length? It always starts at the same position and is contained in the square brackets.

Cheers, Jim

Answer 1

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

str='(0020,0013) IS [98]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'
pattern='(?<=\[)\d+(?=\])'
out=regexp(str,pattern,'match')

[Jim O'Doherty]

3 very good answers which all work perfectly for what I need

Thank you all very much!

Jim

Answer 2

[Daniel Pereira]

x   = sscanf(str,'(%d,%d) IS [%d] %s %d,%d %s');
num = x([1 2 3 5 6]);

when using

str='(0020,0013) IS [98]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'

gives

    20
    13
    98
     2
     1

and when using

str2='(0020,0013) IS [100]                          #   2, 1 InstanceNumber'

gives

    20
    13
   100
     2
     1

hope it helps

Answer 3

[Image Analyst]

Try this:

index = strfind(str, ']')-1
theNumber = str2double(str(17:index))