HOWTO: Parse City, State, and Zip Code into Separate Values

• Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation, Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 5.0
• Microsoft Visual Basic Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
• Microsoft Visual Basic Standard and Professional Editions for Windows, versions 2.0, 3.0
• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

This article provides a procedure for parsing a single variable containing US City, State, and Zip Code information into three separate variables. The routine supports:

• Either 5- or 9-digit zip code.
• Multi-word state names (if preceded by a comma).
• Any number of intermediate spaces.

   New York, New York, 99999
   New York, NY, 99999-9999
   New York, NY 99999-9999
   New York NY 99999

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: ANY USE BY YOU OF THE CODE/MACRO PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Microsoft provides this code/macro "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as a line-continuation character. For versions of BASIC that don't support line-continuation characters, remove the underscore from the end of the line and merge with the following line when re-creating this code.

Fields are parsed in the following order if no commas are found in the address:

   Zip Code, State, City

   City, State, Zip Code

Step-by-Step Example

1. Enter the following code:

         Function CutLastWord (ByVal S As String, Remainder As String) _
            As String
         ' CutLastWord: returns the last word in S.
         ' Remainder: returns the rest.
         '
         ' Words are separated by spaces
         '
         Dim  I As Integer, P As Integer
           S = Trim$(S)
           P = 1
           For I = Len(S) To 1 Step -1
             If Mid$(S, I, 1) = " " Then
               P = I + 1
               Exit For
             End If
           Next I
           If P = 1 Then
             CutLastWord = S
             Remainder = ""
           Else
             CutLastWord = Mid$(S, P)
             Remainder = Trim$(Left$(S, P - 1))
           End If
         End Function
   
         Sub ParseCSZ (ByVal S As String, City As String, State As String, _
                       Zip As String)
         Dim P As Integer
         '
         ' Check for comma after city name
         '
           P = InStr(S, ",")
           If P > 0 Then
             City = Trim$(Left$(S, P - 1))
             S = Trim$(Mid$(S, P + 1))
         '
         '   Check for comma after state
         '
             P = InStr(S, ",")
             If P > 0 Then
               State = Trim$(Left$(S, P - 1))
               Zip = Trim$(Mid$(S, P + 1))
             Else                      ' No comma between state and zip
               Zip = CutLastWord(S, S)
               State = S
             End If
           Else                        ' No commas between city, state, or zip
             Zip = CutLastWord(S, S)
             State = CutLastWord(S, S)
             City = S
           End If
         '
         ' Clean up any dangling commas
         '
           If Right$(State, 1) = "," Then
             State = RTrim$(Left$(State, Len(State) - 1))
           End If
           If Right$(City, 1) = "," Then
             City = RTrim$(Left$(City, Len(City) - 1))
           End If
         End Sub
   
   

2. To test, create a form with four text boxes (txtAddress, txtCity, txtState, txtZip), and a command button. Add the following code:

         Sub Command1_Click()
         Dim City As String, State As String, Zip As String
           ParseCSZ txtAddress, City, State, Zip
           txtCity = City
           txtState = State
           txtZip = Zip
         End Sub
   
   

3. Display the form, type an address into txtAddress, and click the command button. The other three fields should contain the parsed values.

Keywords          : PrgOther VB4ALL VB4WIN vb5all vb5howto vbwin GnrlVb kbprg
Technology        : kbvba
Version           : WINDOWS:1.0 1.1 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 7.0 97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto