I have a Text field in which a client has entered multiple keywords separated by semicolons, like so:

Animation; Experimental; Comedy

I have created a sub-table to hold individual keywords so they can be better manipulated in various ways. So I need to run a script to break out the three values and create 3 sub-records for the above examples.  Fortunately, the records are very consistent in their use of semicolons and a space to separate the values. (And semicolons are not used for any other purpose within the entries).  

I assume I'll create a looping script to perform an iterative process on each record, using the semicolons as markers, right?  I'd could use the Position function to find where the semicolons are and then use the LEFT text function to chop off the first word, etc etc, right?

It's been a long time since I've done this sort of thing and am rusty on the process. Are there any field replacement calculations I could do to make my task simpler?  I just get a feeling I may be overlooking a useful tool of some kind.

Thanks!

Start by substituting the existing separator with a carriage return to get a return-separated list. Then use GetValue ( $list ; $i ) to get the individual keyword values, increasing $i until it reaches ValueCount ( $list ).

Note: 
Not sure what you mean by "better manipulated in various ways". Filemaker is pretty good at manipulating return-separated lists, so it could well be all that you need to do.

 

Edited September 7, 20187 yr by comment