How can I search a list of phrases for specific terms?

Not quite sure what you're trying to do. But you could try something like:

Option Explicit

Private Sub Command1_Click()

    Dim fso As New Scripting.FileSystemObject
    Dim fol As Folder
    Dim fil As File
   
    Set fol = fso.GetFolder("C:\My Documents\My Pictures")
   
    For Each fil In fol.Files
        If CheckFile(fil.Name) Then
            lstResults.AddItem fil.Name
        End If
    Next fil

End Sub

Private Function CheckFile(ByVal fileName As String) As Boolean

    CheckFile = True   '// Default
   
    Dim arrWords() As String
    Dim i As Integer
   
    If Len(txtSearch.Text) > 0 Then
       
        arrWords = Split(txtSearch.Text, " ")
       
        If UBound(arrWords) = 0 Then
            ReDim arrWords(1)
            arrWords(0) = txtSearch.Text
        End If
   
        For i = 0 To UBound(arrWords) - 1
            If arrWords(i) <> "" Then
                If InStr(fileName, arrWords(i)) < 1 Then
                    CheckFile = False
                    Exit For
                End If
            End If
        Next i
       
    End If
   
End Function

sorry, I guess I didn't explain that well.

What i mean is say I have a file name held in a string "pulp fiction xvid ac3.avi", I want the program to suggest "pulp fiction" to the user. I have a list of movie titles in a text file that I read in, but I need to compare them.

At the moment my code looks like this:

Public Function guessName(source As String) As String
Dim cnt As Long
Dim tmp As String
Dim tmpArray() As String

cnt = 0

Dim oFSO As New FileSystemObject
Dim oFSTR As Scripting.TextStream

ReDim tmpArray(2000)

     Set oFSTR = oFSO.OpenTextFile(App.Path & "\MovieList2.txt")

     Do While Not oFSTR.AtEndOfStream

            tmpArray(cnt) = oFSTR.ReadLine

            cnt = cnt + 1

            DoEvents
    Loop
     oFSTR.Close
     
   Dim i As Integer
   Dim tmpStr As String
   
   
   For i = LBound(tmpArray) To UBound(tmpArray)
    tmpStr = compareMovies(source, tmpArray(i))
    If (Not tmpStr = "") Then
        guessName = tmpStr
    End If
   Next i
     

End Function


Private Function compareMovies(source As String, target As String) As String

If (source = "" Or target = "") Then
    Exit Function
End If

Dim temp As String
Dim pos As Long

If (source = target) Then
    compareMovies = source
ElseIf (InStr(source, target)) Then
    compareMovies = target
End If


End Function

This works if the exact name that is in the text file is in the file name, but often it isn't. So I need a way of guessing what the name could be based on the filename.

For example.

If the file name is X-men.avi but my list of films contains "The X men" it won't find it.

Does that make more sense?

Thanks again,

You could perhaps have a comparison that looks for each word in the source name in the file name.
And counts the number of words that it gets a hit from.
Return those to the main function - along with the hit count, and present the user with that entire list (sorted by hit count).  OK - so you'd get a load from "The" - hence the need for sorting ;-)

Something like

Function compareMovies(source As String, target As String, intHits As Integer) As String

Dim temp As String
Dim intPos As Long
Dim intInstr As Integer

    If (source = "" Or target = "") Then
        Exit Function
    End If
   
    intPos = 1
    intInstr = InStr(intPos, source & " ", " ")
   
    Do Until intInstr = 0
        If InStr(target, Mid(source, intPos, intInstr - intPos)) > 0 Then
            intHits = intHits + 1
        End If
        intPos = intInstr + 1
        intInstr = InStr(intPos, source & " ", " ")
    Loop
   
    If intHits > 0 Then
        compareMovies = target
    End If
   
End Function

Ok, I noticed I should have added the underscore to

strSeparaters = " @$%^&()!+=~`,.;_"

and failed to clarify that...

For Each Badword in List

was to presume that you know how to create a LIST and a variable BADWORDS set to that list.

There are some variations to this you could apply, but still you get the algorithm.

Regards,
TJ