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MiniRobotLanguage (MRL)

 

BLO.MultiGetNth

Gets the Nth block using multiple literal start and end delimiters.

 

 

 

Intention

 

This Command extracts the Nth top-level block from a source string using multiple possible start and end delimiters, provided as comma-separated lists.

It is ideal when the input text may use inconsistent or variant delimiters (e.g., both "[*]" and "<*>" for the same logical block type).

The system automatically sorts all delimiters by length in descending order and uses longest-match-first logic to avoid partial matches (e.g., prefers "[**]" over "[*" if both are in the list and match at the same position).

Note: Delimiters must not contain commas, as comma is the list separator.

 

Visual Example

 

Parsing with Mixed Delimiters

 

Source String:  abc[*]HELLO[*]def<**>WORLD</**>xyz[##]TEST[##]

Start Delims:     "[*],<**>,[##]"

End Delims:       "[*],</**>,[##]"

                └───┬───┘       └────┬────┘     └───┬───┘

                    │             │           │

                    ▼             ▼           ▼

Result (N=1):       "HELLO"

Result (N=2):       "WORLD"

Result (N=3):       "TEST"

 

 

Syntax

 

BLO.MultiGetNth|P1|P2|P3|P4[|P5]

 

Parameter Explanation

 

•P1 - (Input, Text) The source string to search within.

•P2 - (Input, Text) Comma-separated list of start delimiters (e.g., "[*],<**>").

•P3 - (Input, Text) Comma-separated list of end delimiters (e.g., "[*],</**>").

•P4 - (Input, Numeric) The block index to retrieve. 1 = first, -1 = last.

•P5 - (Output, Variable) The variable to store the extracted block content. If omitted, result is placed on Top of Stack (TOS).

 

Example

 

'***********************************

' BLO.MultiGetNth Example

'***********************************

$$SRC=abc[*]HELLO[*]def<**>WORLD</**>xyz

BLO.MultiGetNth|$$SRC|[*],<**>|[*],</**>|1|$$RES

' $$RES now contains: "HELLO"

 

' Get the last block

BLO.MultiGetNth|$$SRC|[*],<**>|[*],</**>|-1|$$LAS

' $$LAS = "WORLD"

 

' Mixed bracket styles

$$TEXT={ITEM}Apple{END}[ITEM]Orange[END]

BLO.MultiGetNth|$$TEXT|{ITEM},[ITEM]|{END},[END]|2|$$SEC

' $$SEC = "Orange"

MBX.!|$$SEC

ENR.

 

 

See also:

 

• BLO.AIGetNth - Gets Nth block using AI-resilient delimiters

• BLO.PatternGetNth - Gets Nth block using abstract patterns (WR_AW)