Re: [libreoffice-l10n] Help text for MIDB

A1 = "中国"
B1 = MIDB(A1,1,1) returns ""
B1 = MIDB(A1,1,2) returns "中"
B1 = MIDB(A1,1,3) returns "中"
B1 = MIDB(A1,1,4) returns "中国"

I think it is better up to the localizer to translate this help text according to their needs, for 
example Japanese team may show how this works with Japanese chars.

Kevin Suo

于 2015年1月19日 GMT+08:00PM9:16:23, Jesper Hertel <jesper.hertel@gmail.com> 写到:
> The help text for MIDB (
> https://help.libreoffice.org/Calc/Text_Functions#MIDB) says this:
>
> "
>
> MIDB
>
> Returns a text string of a DBCS text. The parameters specify the
> starting
> position and the number of characters.
>
> Syntax
>
> MIDB("Text"; Start; Number_bytes)
>
> Text is the text containing the characters to extract.
>
> Start is the position of the first character in the text to extract.
>
> Number_bytes specifies the number of characters MIDB will return from
> text,
> in bytes.
>
> Example
>
> =MIDB("office";2;2) returns ff.
>
> "
>
> But "office" is not a string written in a double byte character set
> (DBCS,
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBCS), so the example is not helpful for
> the
> main use of the function.
>
> There should primarily be an example with a string in a language that
> actually uses a double byte character set (DBCS), like Chinese. And
> then
> the example would show that only 1 character is returned when asking
> for 2
> bytes, i.e. the number of characters returned will be *half* of the
> number
> of bytes asked for. It should also be noted that if you ask for 3
> bytes,
> you get 1 character, etc.
>
> The given example only shows the rather special case when you are *not*
> giving the function a DBCS string; in this case the number of
> characters
> returned is the *same* as the number of bytes.
>
>
> Secondly, the sentence "Number_bytes specifies the number of characters
> MIDB will return from text, in bytes" is not very clear, because the
> number
> does *not* specify the number of characters. The fact is that if you
> feed
> the function a string in a single byte character set (SBCS,
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBCS), such as "office", the number of
> bytes
> is the *same* as the number of characters. If you feed the function a
> string in a double byte character set (DBCS), such as a string of
> Chinese
> characters, the number of bytes is *double* the amount of characters.
>
>
> I don't know if this is the right place to report this problem.
>
> The problem is probably also known already, and I kind of expect to get
> the
> reply "oh yeah, we know, the help is a big mess and really needs
> improvement.". ;-) But maybe I am wrong, so I am reporting it anyway.
>
>
> Jesper
>
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