topic Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name in 3ds Max Programming Forum

Remove number sequence from object name

chad_voller — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 16:18:10 GMT

As the title says, I'm trying to remove the ending number sequence from a selection of objects. Sometimes it's 2 digits, sometimes 3 digits, depending on how the object was copied/instanced. And sometimes it's many more digits if it's a CAD import. So if I have something named, LP45_Object039871, I want to have it identify the sequence 039871 at the end of the name and remove it so it will be LP45_Object with no sequence at the end. Sometimes there's an "_" or "-" before the sequence that should be removed as well. Is this possible in Maxscript?

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

MartinBeh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:16:54 GMT

Sure!

For each object get name

walk forward from the end of the name until you hit a letter

use the remaining part as new name

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

chad_voller — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:22:18 GMT

How exactly is that done? I can't seem to figure out how to differentiate between characters in the name. What tells it that it is a number, or _ or -?

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

MartinBeh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:38:08 GMT

The cool kids might simply use regular expressions in dotNet to get the new name but here is how to do it with only built-in MAXscript tools:

fn isChar txt = (toUpper (toLower txt)) != txt -- hack: test if changing case of txt changes txt - if yes then txt is not characters fn trimNonChar txt = ( -- remove any non-letter from the end of txt local pos = txt.count local cont = true for i = txt.count to 1 by -1 while cont do ( pos = i if (isChar txt[i]) then cont = false ) substring txt 1 pos ) -- select all objects you want to be renamed for o in selection do ( local newName = trimNonChar o.name format "Renaming % to %\n" o.name newName -- comment next line out for a dry run o.name = newName )

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

MartinBeh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:40:48 GMT

But note: This will rename "Sphere001", "Sphere_002" and "Sphere0003" all into "Sphere".

3ds max allows you to have multiple objects with the same name, but IMO this is a very bad idea.

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

MartinBeh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:52:41 GMT

Or you get the integer representation of a single character and compare that:

fn isChar txt = bit.charAsInt txt >= 65

See https://www.ascii-code.com/ for the numbers. If you also want to remove "_" you need to test for value 95

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

MartinBeh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 18:19:35 GMT

Here is a drop-in replacement that uses dotNet regex:

fn trimNonChar txt = ( local regex = dotnetobject "System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex" @"[_-]*\d{3,}$" -- search for 3 or more digits at the end, optionally preceeded by one ore more _ or - characters local match = regex.matches txt if match.count == 1 then ( substring txt 1 (txt.count - match.item[0].length) -- trim away end ) else txt )

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

MartinBeh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 18:42:28 GMT

And one more variant, even shorter - this time using Python and the same regular expression:

global py_re = python.import "re" -- load Python's regular expression module fn trimNonChar txt = ( ::py_re.sub @"[_-]*\d{3,}$" "" txt -- using Python, replace _-ddd... with nothing and return ) -- select all objects you want to be renamed, then run this for o in selection do ( local newName = trimNonChar o.name format "Renaming % to %\n" o.name newName -- comment next line out for a dry run o.name = newName )

Betreff: Remove number sequence from object name

chad_voller — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 19:13:08 GMT

That is exactly what I am looking for. And yes, I do agree that having objects of the same name is a bad idea. I'm working with 3rd party software that requires the names to be exactly the same, and removing the number sequence fixes that. I will be putting in some safeguards that it is only applied to the correct objects, and possibly on export only. I appreciate the different options you gave to get the result.

Re: Remove number sequence from object name

denisT.MaxDoctor — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 07:26:30 GMT

fn trimTailDigits str spec:" _-." = trimright str ("0123456789" + spec) trimTailDigits "string_test_0001" trimTailDigits #string_test_02

Re: Remove number sequence from object name

denisT.MaxDoctor — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 07:34:21 GMT

here is specifically for node object names:

mapped fn trimName node chars:" _-.0123456789" = (node.name = trimright node.name chars) for k=1 to 10 do box() trimName objects