I want to identify any fields that do not have a backslash \ as the
first character in the field. Some of the fields have two \s on the
left end.

If I test with Left ( Self ; 1 ) â‰* "\" FM complains there is no
ending quotation mark.
If I test with Left ( Self ; 1 ) â‰* "\\" FM shows fields with one\
as failing but two \s are OK
If I tests with Left ( Self ; 1 ) â‰* "\\\" FM complains there is no
ending quotation mark.

Suspect I have to substitute / for \ before testing the left
end.

Riddle

if one \ escapes one \ how many \ do you need to escape two \?

"\" escapes the quotation mark and has thus no ending "
you don't need the " to be escaped, you need a \
"\\" results in 1 \ because only one \ gets escaped
"\\\"results in 1 \ and an escaped " without ending "
"\\\\" should result in 2 \\
If you are afraid you can't read it any more rewrite it as "\\" & "\\"

--
Keep well / Hou je goed

Ursus

"TomMcIn" <tom_mcintosh (AT) shaw (DOT) ca> schreef in bericht
news:478fd331-97f3-44bc-8da9-f01b7200daaf (AT) p8g2000yqb (DOT) googlegroups.com...
I want to identify any fields that do not have a backslash \ as the
first character in the field. Some of the fields have two \s on the
left end.

If I test with Left ( Self ; 1 ) ? "\" FM complains there is no
ending quotation mark.
If I test with Left ( Self ; 1 ) ? "\\" FM shows fields with one \
as failing but two \s are OK
If I tests with Left ( Self ; 1 ) ? "\\\" FM complains there is no
ending quotation mark.

Suspect I have to substitute / for \ before testing the left
end.

"TomMcIn" <tom_mcintosh (AT) shaw (DOT) ca> wrote

The easiest way around these untypeable and problem characters (including
backslash, quotation mark, tab, etc.) is to use a Global Field to store one.

- Create a Global Field:
g_Backslash Global Text

- Temporarily put this Field in any Layout's Body
part, and in Browse mode type a / into it, then
you can remove the Frield from the Layout again.

- Now your If command simply becomes:
If (Left (Self; 1) ? g_Backslash)


Helpfull Harry )