Removing suffixes

[tachyon]

This has got to be the most basic thing but... needing to remove filename suffixes I try: "leftwords ( filename.ai ; 1)" expecting it to return "filename"? but get "filename.ai". I am using "Trim (Substitute (filename; ".ai"; "") to achieve the result but it seems a bit flakey; what if the suffix is .psd for instance?. Any ideas?

Edited October 16, 2006 by Guest

[BronwynL]

I think you need Left(text; Position ( text ; "." ; 1 ; 1 ))

You'd replace numOfChars in the Left function with the results of the Position function.

HTH

[tachyon]

Good one; thanks but you have to put "-1" at the end, otherwise you get the "." -

Left ( file name; Position ( file name ; "." ; 1 ; 1 )-1)

[BronwynL]

Ha - I always forget that one. But it pointed you in the right direction at least.

[comment]

Actually, since file name can contain more than one period (at least in OS X it can), e.g. "MyFile.fp7.zip", it should be:

Left ( FileName ; Position ( FileName ; "." ; Length ( FileName ) ; -1 ) - 1 )

[BronwynL]

True. My bad.

[tachyon]

yeah, but only if you want to return all bar the last suffix.

"guff.guf.guf" yields "guff.guf"

hmmm... and leftwords needs a space after the "."

[comment]

Your original question was:

needing to remove filename suffixes ... expecting it to return "filename"

I believe the filename suffix (or more precisely, the filename extension) IS the last suffix - and ONLY the last suffix. Everything bar the last suffix IS the filename. If your requirement is different, please clarify.