How to VBA Excel Macro part of a string - vba

Question

I'm currently busy with Excel tooling and learning a lot but i got a question. Currently i have a couple rows with data in the rows. In the rows there is a lot of data but i need a specific part of the row. Of course i can delete it all manually but to do that for 3000 rows i will be wasting a lot of time.
Can any one help me with a macro that filters data. The data i need is between [ and ] so for example [data]
I hope you guys can help me out and if you need more information just ask me! I hope you guys can help me!
Example String ROW:
[Sandwitch]><xsd:element name="T8436283"
So what do i need?
So i need a macro that only gets the Sandwitch out of it and paste it in the B column. The string with all the information stays at column A and the Sandwitch goes to Column B and that for all rows.

Answer 1

Option 1: Find/Replace
1) Copy data in another column (just saving original copy)
2) Perform Find/Replace "*["
3) Perform Find/Replace "]"
Now you have data which was between [].
Option 2: Use formulas
1) Lets assume that original data in Column "A"
2) Apply this formula in column "B" which will extract data between []
=MID(A1,FIND("[",A1)+1,FIND("]",A1)-FIND("[",A1)-1)
Option 3: Macro
If it is absolutely needed, I can help create a macro, otherwise try first two easier options.

Answer 2

A general purpose "find element in s starting x up to next y":
Function GenExtract(FromStr As String, _
StartSep As String, EndSep As String) _
As Variant
Dim StPos As Long
Dim EnPos As Long
GenExtract = CVErr(xlErrNA)
If StartSep = "" Or EndSep = "" Then Exit Function 'fail
StPos = InStr(1, FromStr, Left(StartSep, 1))
If StPos = 0 Or StPos = Len(FromStr) Then Exit Function 'fail
EnPos = InStr(StPos + 1, FromStr, Left(EndSep, 1))
If EnPos = 0 Then Exit Function 'fail
GenExtract = Mid(FromStr, StPos + 1, EnPos - StPos - 1)
End Function
If the two separators are the same, as per quotes, it gives the first string enclosed by those.

Answer 3

If you want to get your feet wet in Regular Expressions, the following code will take you there. You have to add a reference to the VB Scripting Library
Tools > References > Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5
Then the code is as follows:
Sub textBetweenStuffs()
Dim str As String
Dim regEx As RegExp
Dim m As Match
Dim sHolder As MatchCollection
Dim bracketCollection As Collection
Dim quoteCollection As Collection
Set regEx = New RegExp
'Matches anything in between an opening bracket and first closing bracket
regEx.Pattern = "\[(.*?\])"
str = "[Sandwitch]><xsd:element name=""T8436283"""
'populates matches into match collection
Set sHolder = regEx.Execute(str)
Set bracketCollection = New Collection
'loop through values in match collection to do with as you wish
For Each m In sHolder
bracketCollection.Add m.Value
Next i
Set sHolder = Nothing
'get values between Quotations
regEx.Pattern = "\"(.*?\")"
'populates matches into match collection
Set sHolder = regEx.Execute(str)
Set quoteCollection = New Collection
'loop through values in match collection to do with as you wish
For Each m In sHolder
quoteCollection.Add m.Value
Next i
End Sub