Deleting Elements in an Array if Element is a Certain value VBA

Question

I have a global array, prLst() that can of variable length. It takes in numbers as strings \"1\" to Ubound(prLst). However, when the

Answer 1

Sub DelEle(Ary, SameTypeTemp, Index As Integer) '<<<<<<<<< pass only not fixed sized array (i don't know how to declare same type temp array in proceder)
    Dim I As Integer, II As Integer
    II = -1
    If Index < LBound(Ary) And Index > UBound(Ary) Then MsgBox "Error.........."
    For I = 0 To UBound(Ary)
        If I <> Index Then
            II = II + 1
            ReDim Preserve SameTypeTemp(II)
            SameTypeTemp(II) = Ary(I)
        End If
    Next I
    ReDim Ary(UBound(SameTypeTemp))
    Ary = SameTypeTemp
    Erase SameTypeTemp
End Sub

Sub Test()
    Dim a() As Integer, b() As Integer
    ReDim a(3)
    Debug.Print "InputData:"
    For I = 0 To UBound(a)
        a(I) = I
        Debug.Print "    " & a(I)
    Next
    DelEle a, b, 1
    Debug.Print "Result:"
    For I = 0 To UBound(a)
        Debug.Print "    " & a(I)
    Next
End Sub

Answer 2

When creating the array, why not just skip over the 0s and save yourself the time of having to worry about them later? As mentioned above, arrays are not well-suited for deletion.

Answer 3

here is a sample of code using the CopyMemory function to do the job.

It is supposedly "much faster" (depending of the size and type of the array...).

i am not the author, but i tested it :

Sub RemoveArrayElement_Str(ByRef AryVar() As String, ByVal RemoveWhich As Long) 

'// The size of the array elements
'// In the case of string arrays, they are
'// simply 32 bit pointers to BSTR's.
Dim byteLen As Byte

'// String pointers are 4 bytes
byteLen = 4

'// The copymemory operation is not necessary unless
'// we are working with an array element that is not
'// at the end of the array
If RemoveWhich < UBound(AryVar) Then
    '// Copy the block of string pointers starting at
    ' the position after the
    '// removed item back one spot.
    CopyMemory ByVal VarPtr(AryVar(RemoveWhich)), ByVal _
        VarPtr(AryVar(RemoveWhich + 1)), (byteLen) * _
        (UBound(AryVar) - RemoveWhich)
End If

'// If we are removing the last array element
'// just deinitialize the array
'// otherwise chop the array down by one.
If UBound(AryVar) = LBound(AryVar) Then
    Erase AryVar
Else
    ReDim Preserve AryVar(LBound(AryVar) To UBound(AryVar) - 1)
End If
End Sub

Answer 4

An array is a structure with a certain size. You can use dynamic arrays in vba that you can shrink or grow using ReDim but you can't remove elements in the middle. It's not clear from your sample how your array functionally works or how you determine the index position (eachHdr) but you basically have 3 options

(A) Write a custom 'delete' function for your array like (untested)

Public Sub DeleteElementAt(Byval index As Integer, Byref prLst as Variant)
       Dim i As Integer

        ' Move all element back one position
        For i = index + 1 To UBound(prLst)
            prLst(i - 1) = prLst(i)
        Next

        ' Shrink the array by one, removing the last one
        ReDim Preserve prLst(Len(prLst) - 1)
End Sub

(B) Simply set a 'dummy' value as the value instead of actually deleting the element

If prLst(eachHdr) = "0" Then        
   prLst(eachHdr) = "n/a"
End If

(C) Stop using an array and change it into a VBA.Collection. A collection is a (unique)key/value pair structure where you can freely add or delete elements from

Dim prLst As New Collection

Answer 5

It's simple. I did it the following way to get a string with unique values (from two columns of an output sheet):

Dim startpoint, endpoint, ArrCount As Integer
Dim SentToArr() As String

'created by running the first part (check for new entries)
startpoint = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("temp").Range("A1").Value
'set counter on 0
Arrcount = 0 
'last filled row in BG
endpoint = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("BG").Range("G1047854").End(xlUp).Row

'create arr with all data - this could be any data you want!
With ThisWorkbook.Sheets("BG")
    For i = startpoint To endpoint
        ArrCount = ArrCount + 1
        ReDim Preserve SentToArr(1 To ArrCount)
        SentToArr(ArrCount) = .Range("A" & i).Value
        'get prep
        ArrCount = ArrCount + 1
        ReDim Preserve SentToArr(1 To ArrCount)
        SentToArr(ArrCount) = .Range("B" & i).Value
    Next i
End With

'iterate the arr and get a key (l) in each iteration
For l = LBound(SentToArr) To UBound(SentToArr)
    Key = SentToArr(l)
    'iterate one more time and compare the first key (l) with key (k)
    For k = LBound(SentToArr) To UBound(SentToArr)
        'if key = the new key from the second iteration and the position is different fill it as empty
        If Key = SentToArr(k) And Not k = l Then
            SentToArr(k) = ""
        End If
    Next k
Next l

'iterate through all 'unique-made' values, if the value of the pos is 
'empty, skip - you could also create a new array by using the following after the IF below - !! dont forget to reset [ArrCount] as well:
'ArrCount = ArrCount + 1
'ReDim Preserve SentToArr(1 To ArrCount)
'SentToArr(ArrCount) = SentToArr(h)

For h = LBound(SentToArr) To UBound(SentToArr)
    If SentToArr(h) = "" Then GoTo skipArrayPart
    GetEmailArray = GetEmailArray & "; " & SentToArr(h)
skipArrayPart:
Next h

'some clean up
If Left(GetEmailArray, 2) = "; " Then
    GetEmailArray = Right(GetEmailArray, Len(GetEmailArray) - 2)
End If

'show us the money
MsgBox GetEmailArray

Answer 6

I'm pretty new to vba & excel - only been doing this for about 3 months - I thought I'd share my array de-duplication method here as this post seems relevant to it:

This code if part of a bigger application that analyses pipe data- Pipes are listed in a sheet with number in xxxx.1, xxxx.2, yyyy.1, yyyy.2 .... format. so thats why all the string manipulation exists. basically it only collects the pipe number once only, and not the .2 or .1 part.

        With wbPreviousSummary.Sheets(1)
'   here, we will write the edited pipe numbers to a collection - then pass the collection to an array
        Dim PipeDict As New Dictionary

        Dim TempArray As Variant

        TempArray = .Range(.Cells(3, 2), .Cells(3, 2).End(xlDown)).Value

        For ele = LBound(TempArray, 1) To UBound(TempArray, 1)

            If Not PipeDict.Exists(Left(TempArray(ele, 1), Len(TempArray(ele, 1) - 2))) Then

                PipeDict.Add Key:=Left(TempArray(ele, 1), Len(TempArray(ele, 1) - 2)), _
                                                        Item:=Left(TempArray(ele, 1), Len(TempArray(ele, 1) - 2))

            End If

        Next ele

        TempArray = PipeDict.Items

        For ele = LBound(TempArray) To UBound(TempArray)
            MsgBox TempArray(ele)
        Next ele

    End With
    wbPreviousSummary.Close SaveChanges:=False

    Set wbPreviousSummary = Nothing 'done early so we dont have the information loaded in memory

Using a heap of message boxes for debugging atm - im sure you'll change it to suit your own work.

I hope people find this useful, Regards Joe