extract numbers from string in access - ms-access

Question

I need help creating a VB code or expression in Access 2010 that will group numbers from a string where each set starts with number 6 and is always 9 characters long.
Example of strings:
Order Confirmation # 638917872-001 Partial Order/$23.74 RECEIVED
Order Confirmation - Multiple Orders - Order Confirmation#639069135-001/$297.45 - Order Confirmation#639069611-001/$32.08.
I'm using a VB code to remove all the alpha characters but that just leaves me with:
6389178720012374 from string 1 and
639069135001297456390696110013208 from string 2.
All I care about is the order number that starts with 6 and is 9 characters long. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I know there's an easier way.

Answer 1

VB.NET Solution:
If you just need the first 9 numbers from your resulting strings you could use String.Substring, ie:
Dim numberString as String = "6389178720012374"
Dim newString As String = numberString.Substring(0, 9)
MessageBox.Show(newString)
shows 638917872
MSDN Link
EDIT:
Maybe you would want to use a RegEx - something like this perhaps can get you started:
Private Sub Input()
Dim numberString As String = "Order Confirmation # 638917872-001 Partial Order/$23.74 RECEIVED"
Dim numberString2 As String = "Order Confirmation - Multiple Orders - Order Confirmation#639069135-001/$297.45 - Order Confirmation#639069611-001/$32.08"
GiveMeTheNumbers(numberString)
GiveMeTheNumbers(numberString2)
End Sub
Function GiveMeTheNumbers(ByVal s As String) As String
Dim m As Match = Regex.Match(s, "6\d{8}") 'get 9 digit #s begin w/6
Do While m.Success
MessageBox.Show(m.Value.ToString)
m = m.NextMatch()
Loop
Return False
End Function
Results -
MessageBox1: 638917872
MessageBox2: 639069135
MessageBox3: 639069611

Answer 2

You can use this function ... tested in VB.NET
Function NumOnly(ByVal s As String) As String
sRes = ""
For x As Integer = 0 To s.Length - 1
If IsNumeric(s.Substring(x, 1)) Then sRes = sRes & s.Substring(x, 1)
Next
return sRes
End Function
Little modif for ms-access

Answer 3

OK, here's a VBA solution. You'll need to add Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions to your references.
This will match every 9 digit number it finds and return an array of strings with the order #s.
Function GetOrderNum(S As String) As String()
Dim oMatches As Object
Dim aMatches() As String
Dim I As Integer
Dim RE As Object
Set RE = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
ReDim aMatches(0)
RE.Pattern = "\d{9}"
RE.Global = True
RE.IgnoreCase = True
Set oMatches = RE.Execute(S)
If oMatches.Count <> 0 Then
ReDim aMatches(oMatches.Count)
For I = 0 To oMatches.Count - 1
aMatches(I) = oMatches(I)
Next I
End If
GetOrderNum = aMatches
End Function