VBA How to use regular expression on a user input in a cell

Question

I am trying to specify the user input in a cell with a regular expression. The idea is to use only these strings:

C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10
         


        

Answer 1

This code will check each set of three combinations when you update a cell. Paste the code in the worksheet rather than a module. It assumes your text follows the rule of:

every 3 combinations must be separated with comma

For example, the string C6 merge 1, C4 merge 1 will have C6 merge 1 and C4 merge 1 checked. It ignores the comma and leading/trailing spaces.

Note: I haven't checked the RegExp pattern as that's not my forte, but it checks as you enter the data in column G. Maybe post a separate question to get the correct Reg Exp syntax?

You may want to create the RegEx variable with a worksheet scope that gets initialised when the sheet is activated and destroyed when you leave the sheet (save having to do it each time you update a cell).

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)

    Dim strPattern As String
    Dim regEx As RegExp
    Dim vValues As Variant
    Dim vValue As Variant

    If Not Intersect(Target, Range("G:G")) Is Nothing Then
        strPattern = "\b(C(?:10|[1-9])),(merge|complete framed|width),(\d+)"
        Set regEx = New RegExp

        vValues = Split(Target, ",")

        With regEx
            For Each vValue In vValues
                '.Global = True 'Not needed as possible matches are passed one at a time using Split.
                '.MultiLine = True
                .IgnoreCase = False
                .Pattern = strPattern

                If .Test(Trim(vValue)) Then
                    MsgBox "Match found in " & Target.Value & " : " & Trim(vValue)
                Else
                    MsgBox "No match"
                End If
            Next vValue
        End With
    End If  

    Set regEx = Nothing

End Sub