# Retrieve from OSC Address Pattern

**URL:** <https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/retrieve-from-osc-address-pattern/2010>\
**Category:** Support, Help & Resources\
**Created:** [February 15, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/retrieve-from-osc-address-pattern/2010 "2019-02-15T19:23:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![robin.newman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@robin.newman](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/robin.newman)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/retrieve-from-osc-address-pattern/2010/2 "2019-02-15T23:38:21Z")

</div>

You can use a function like this , which extracts wild cards from an OSC address

```ruby
define :parse_sync_address do |address|
  v= get_event(address).to_s.split(",")[6]
  if v != nil
    return v[3..-2].split("/")
  else
    return ["error"]
  end
end

```

EDITED TO FIT YOUR EXAMPLE. I posted this late last night after a “night out” and thought it needed a bit more detail and explanation this morning!  
So the program below works with the example requirement you gave in your post.

```ruby
define :parse_sync_address do |address|
  v= get_event(address).to_s.split(",")[6]
  if v != nil
    return v[3..-2].split("/")
  else
    return ["error"]
  end
end

live_loop :getModulate do
  use_real_time
  #the * after osc in the next line allows this to work on 3.2dev as well as 3.2
  #you can miss it out on 3.2 if you wish,althouhg it will work with it
  p,q,r,s= sync "/osc*/modulate/*"
  puts "values",p,q,r,s
  #the FIRST * after osc in the next line allows this to work on 3.2dev as well as 3.2
  #you can miss it out on 3.2 if you wish,although it will work with it
  res = parse_sync_address "/osc*/modulate/*"
  puts "channel",res[2].to_i #track activated extracts the 3rd element of the osc address, ie the value of the *
  
end

#sample osc messages now sent to test this
use_osc "localhost",4559
osc "/modulate/1",1,2,3,4
sleep 1
osc "/modulate/2",5,6,7,8

```

See my project

> [@Sonic Pi 3 Record/Player using TouchOSC](http://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/sonic-pi-3-record-player-using-touchosc/831):
>
> A new instrument interface for Sonc Pi using a TouchOSC interface. An 8×8 matrix of push buttons which provide note input. Keyboard layout similar to Ableton Push2, which makes it easier to input tunes. (More detail later) The ability to choose keys C,D,E,F,G,A and B major and minor. A choice of two percussive synths (piano and pluck) The ability to record in real time the note input, the key input and the synth selection, which can then all be replaced. W…

for a practical demonstration of this.

The function uses an undocumented function get\_event from Sonic PI. It may change in the futre, but works at present with all version 3 including latest dev version.  
The \* following /osc in the address lines ie /osc\*/ allows this to work in version 3.2dev as well as 3.1 If you will only use 3.1 then you can miss out this \*, although it will work if you leave it there. Currently it IS necessary to be there to work with version 3.2dev.

This gives output.

```ruby
 ├─ "values" 1 2 3 4
 └─ "channel" 1

 ├─ "values" 5 6 7 8
 └─ "channel" 2

```

To help understand how the parseAddress function works add some puts statements as below:

```ruby
define :parse_sync_address do |address|
  puts get_event(address)
  puts get_event(address).to_s.split(",")
  v= get_event(address).to_s.split(",")[6]
  if v != nil
    puts v
    puts v[3..-2].split("/")
    return v[3..-2].split("/")
  else
    return ["error"]
  end
end

```

With the example based on your requirements the program will then give output

```ruby
 ├─ "values" 1 2 3 4
 ├─ #<SonicPi::CueEvent:[[1550307484.7874072, 0, #<SonicPi::ThreadId [-1]>, 0, 0.0, 60.0], "/osc/modulate/1", [1, 2, 3, 4]]
 ├─ ["#<SonicPi::CueEvent:[[1550307484.7874072", " 0", " #<SonicPi::ThreadId [-1]>", " 0", " 0.0", " 60.0]", " \"/osc/modulate/1\"", " [1", " 2", " 3", " 4]]"]
 ├─ " \"/osc/modulate/1\""
 ├─ ["osc", "modulate", "1"]
 └─ "channel" 1

```

and

```ruby
 ├─ "values" 5 6 7 8
 ├─ #<SonicPi::CueEvent:[[1550307485.7777338, 0, #<SonicPi::ThreadId [-1]>, 0, 0.0, 60.0], "/osc/modulate/2", [5, 6, 7, 8]]
 ├─ ["#<SonicPi::CueEvent:[[1550307485.7777338", " 0", " #<SonicPi::ThreadId [-1]>", " 0", " 0.0", " 60.0]", " \"/osc/modulate/2\"", " [5", " 6", " 7", " 8]]"]
 ├─ " \"/osc/modulate/2\""
 ├─ ["osc", "modulate", "2"]
 └─ "channel" 2

```

for the two osc messages

---

_[View the full topic](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/retrieve-from-osc-address-pattern/2010)._