I have some MET data I want to validate which would look something like

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Asked: May 13, 20262026-05-13T22:59:25+00:00 2026-05-13T22:59:25+00:00

I have some MET data I want to validate which would look something like

0

I have some MET data I want to validate which would look something like these:

char validBuffer[] = {"N51374114W1160437"};
char invalidBuffer[] = {"bad data\n"};
char emptyBuffer[] = {""};

I’ve tried a simple sscanf, but that failed:

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{

    char validBuffer[] = {"N51374114W1160437"};
    char invalidBuffer[] = {"bad data\n"};
    char emptyBuffer[] = {""};

    char ns = ' ';
    char ew = ' ';
    int northing = -999;
    int easting = -999;

    int paramsConverted = sscanf_s(validBuffer, "%c%d%c%d", &ns, &northing, &ew, &easting);
    printf("Converted \"%s\"; Found %d params [%c,%d,%c,%d]\n", validBuffer, paramsConverted, ns, northing, ew, easting);

    paramsConverted = sscanf_s(invalidBuffer, "%c%d%c%d", &ns, &northing, &ew, &easting);
    printf("Converted \"%s\"; Found %d params [%c,%d,%c,%d]\n", invalidBuffer, paramsConverted, ns, northing, ew, easting);

    paramsConverted = sscanf_s(validBuffer, "%c%d%c%d", &ns, &northing, &ew, &easting);
    printf("Converted \"%s\"; Found %d params [%c,%d,%c,%d]\n", emptyBuffer, paramsConverted, ns, northing, ew, easting);

    getchar();

    return 0;
}

gives me:

Converted "N51374114W1160437"; Found 2 params [N,-999,",-1024]
Converted "bad data
"; Found 1 params [b,-999,",-1024]
Converted ""; Found 2 params [N,-999,",-1024]

I’d rather not use any external libraries if at all possible, so is there a nice simple way of doing this without parsing it one character at a time?