VBS Readline - using instr(), to match data whilst ignoring extra spaces - vbscript

Question

I'm trying to find a way to enhance the reliability of my script. It already works but can be thrown off with a simple extra space in the imported text file.
So I'd like to change my script to Readline if I can find a way to do something like:
Example of text in the .txt file:
FLIGHTS OVER TUSKY PLEASE FILE:
AT OR WEST OF A LINE RBV..LLUND..BAYYS..PUT..DIRECT
FLIGHTS OVER EBONY PLEASE FILE:
AT OR WEST OF A LINE RBV..LLUND..BAYYS..PUT..DIRECT
I know the following doesn't work but if there was a simple modification this would be good.
set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Return = WshShell.Run("C:\Downloads\software\putty.exe -load "testing")
set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Users\AW\Desktop\Entries1.txt")
strLine = objFile.ReadAll
If InStr(strLine1, "OVER TUSKY PLEASE") and InStr(strLine2, "BAYYS..PUT..DIRECT") Then
trans307="TUSKY"
ind306="4"
WHAT I'M USING NOW:
I edit the text file in notepad++ to FIND & REPLACE "\n" with "" and "\r" with " " and then it's all one text string and I search for strings within that string.
If InStr(strLine, "FLIGHTS OVER TUSKY PLEASE FILE: AT OR WEST OF A LINE ..RBV..LLUND..BAYYS..PUT..DIRECT") _
or InStr(strLine, "FLIGHTS OVER TUSKY PLEASE FILE: AT OR WEST OF A LINE RBV..LLUND..BAYYS..PUT...DIRECT") Then
trans308C="TUSKY"
ind308C="4"
Problem: If the creators of the text file put another space " " anywhere in this line "AT OR WEST OF A LINE RBV..LLUND..BAYYS..PUT..DIRECT" the script will not identify the string. In the above example I have had to create another or InStr(strLine, "") statement with an extra space or with a couple of dots.
UPDATE:
I will try something like:
set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Users\AW\Desktop\Entries1.txt")
strLine1 = objFile.Readline(1)
strLine2 = objFile.Readline(2)
If InStr(strLine1, "FLIGHTS OVER TUSKY") and InStr(strLine2, "RBV..LLUND..BAYYS..PUT..DIRECT") Then
trans1="TUSKY"
ind1="4"
and see if I can get that to read 2 lines at a time, and loop through the text file.

Answer 1

If you're scared of regex and looking for an alternative, you could create a clunky function to add to your script. Based on your samples, it would seem that fullstops are also never normally used for normal purposes and tend to represent spaces. (I would recommend using Regex instead!)
Using these presumptions, you could create a clunky function like this, that looks for fullstops, and converts them to spaces, removing extra spaces.. Obviously, this relies heavily on your input source files not changing too much - you really should be using a regex to work this stuff out properly.
You could test for the basic expected results using something like the function below.
For example say you had a line of text set in firLine with multiple spaces or fullstops, the function would recognize this:
firLine = "THIS.IS.A.TEST..YOU...SEE MULTIPLE SPACES"
if instr(sanitize(firLine),"THIS IS A TEST YOU SEE MULTIPLE SPACES") then
wscript.echo "Found it"
End If
Here's the clunky function that you could just paste at the end of your script:
Function sanitize(srStr)
Dim preSanitize, srC, spaceMarker
preSanitize = ""
for srC = 1 to len(srStr)
if mid(srStr, srC, 1) = "." then
preSanitize = preSanitize & " "
else
preSanitize = preSanitize & mid(srStr, srC, 1)
End If
spaceMarker = false
sanitize = ""
for srC = 1 to len(preSanitize)
If mid(preSanitize, srC, 1) = " " then
if spaceMarker = false then
sanitize = sanitize & mid(preSanitize, srC, 1)
spaceMarker = true
End If
else
sanitize = sanitize & mid(preSanitize, srC, 1)
spaceMarker = false
End If
Next
End Function

Answer 2

InStr() is a good tool for checking whether a strings contains a fixed/literal string or not. To allow for variation, you should use Regular Expressions (see this or that).
First of all, however, you should work on your specs. Describe in plain words and with some samples what you consider (not) to be a match.
E.g.: A string containing the words "FLIGHTS", "OVER", and "TUSKY" in that order with at least one space in between is a match - "FLIGHTS OVER TUSKY", "FLIGHTS OVER TUSKY"; "FLIGHTS OVER TUSKANY" is a 'near miss' - what about "AIRFLIGHTS OVER TUSKY"?

Answer 3

GREAT NEWS! I finally figured out how to do this.
Here is a snippet from "Entries1.txt"
FLIGHTS OVER BRADD KANNI PLEASE FILE:
VIA J174.RIFLE..ACK..DIRECT
OR RBV.J62.ACK..DIRECT
FLIGHTS OVER KANNI WHALE PLEASE FILE:
VIA J174.RIFLE..ACK..DIRECT OR
FLIGHTS OVER WHALE PLEASE FILE:"
ETC, ETC
set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Users\AW\Desktop\Entries1.txt")
Do until objFile.AtEndOfStream
firLine = objFile.ReadLine
If InStr(firLine, "FLIGHTS OVER KANNI WHALE PLEASE") Then
secLine = objFile.ReadLine
If InStr(secLine, "J174.RIFLE..ACK..DIRECT") Then
'I'm going to change the below once I piece it all together.
WScript.Echo "works"
Else WScript.Echo "Not found"
'cut, paste and modify all my "IF" statements below
End If
End If
loop