Removing a word from a variable in Applescript - applescript

Question

I'm pretty newbie at Applescript and I can't work out how to remove a word from a variable if the word contains a “#” in it.
My script gets this error -> "Can’t make word into type integer." number -1700 from word to integer
Here's my script so far:
activate application "Grids"
delay 2
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "a" using command down
delay 0.25
keystroke "c" using command down
delay 0.25
set Description to the clipboard
if any word in Description contains "#" then delete that word
return Description
end tell
Any pointers?
Cheers,
Chris

Answer 1

To get text out of the clipboard, use (clipboard as text). The clipboard can contain almost anything, even multiple objects, in multiple formats, so as text gives you a string to work with.
And watch out: 'Description' appears to be part of some existing appleScript 'terminology', at least on the Mac I have right here, so I am changing your identifier to desc here:
activate application "Grids"
delay 2
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "a" using command down
delay 0.25
keystroke "c" using command down
delay 0.25
set desc to the clipboard as text
end tell
set out to {}
set tids to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
repeat with anItem in (text items of desc)
set str to (anItem as string)
if (str does not contain "#") then
set end of out to str
end if
end repeat
set outStr to out as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tids
return outStr
This code just returns the text you are looking for. It does not re-insert the groomed string, or do anything else interesting.
I assume you're going to tell System Events to paste it via cmd-v. (Remember to set the clipboard to outStr before you paste!)
AppleScript's text item delimiters allows the string to be split and reassembled using a space (or any other token you wish). For code hygiene reasons, it's wise practice to store it before changing it, then reset it to its original value afterwards, as shown here, otherwise odd things might happen in scripts which expect it to have the default value.