Hello

I have some data that I imported into filemaker. I have extracted the fields I need from the text but there is a hitch.

Sometimes there is a different number of lines in the second group ( you will see below) in which case it throws off my other formula. What I would like to do is somehow keep the number of lines in the second group the same. You see sometimes they take away the second line in the second group which throws everything off. This data is in a field called "A" which is where I pasted the original data. Below is the form it is in using x's

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxx xxxxx xxxx

xxx xxxxxxx xxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxx

Somehow they have removed the second line of the second group making it 4 lines instead of 5. I need to have a replacement for the second line when there are only 4 lines. Does anyone have a way to do this?

It is very appreciated

Thanks

Dave

I'm having a hard time understanding the issue here. In your diagram what consists of a "group" or second line for that matter, and who are "they" that you refer to.

i gather you extract the data using the Middle() and Position() functions.

try counting the lines ("q|"s) between Position(text,"q|q|",1,2) and Position(text,"q|q|",1,1)

that is - how many returns are between the first and second double returns ...

Christian, Thanks for your answer. i do not quite understand what you mean by '"q|"s' the lines. i used that type of formula. i am not sure how to apply it here.

Below is another way to put it

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--First line

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB-Second line

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Third line

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD- Forth line

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE- Fifth line

i had made formula's to extract line 1, 3,4,5 and to put them into fields.

but when the writers of the original text wrote their data occasionally they left out line 2 so the text became

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--First line

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Third line

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD- Forth line

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE- Fifth line

So my formulas for the third , forth and fifth lines shifted and that is the nature of my post. When the second line is missing how do i automatically tell that and adjust. That is my real question. i am not a great communicator. Sorry for the confusion and thanks for the help

Dave