This question already has answers here:
How to split csv whose columns may contain comma
(9 answers)
Closed 4 years ago.
I have the following comma-separated string that I need to split. The problem is that some of the content is within quotes and contains commas that shouldn't be used in the split.
String:
111,222,"33,44,55",666,"77,88","99"
I want the output:
111
222
33,44,55
666
77,88
99
I have tried this:
(?:,?)((?<=")[^"]+(?=")|[^",]+)
But it reads the comma between "77,88","99" as a hit and I get the following output:
111
222
33,44,55
666
77,88
,
99
Depending on your needs you may not be able to use a csv parser, and may in fact want to re-invent the wheel!!
You can do so with some simple regex
(?:^|,)(\"(?:[^\"]+|\"\")*\"|[^,]*)
This will do the following:
(?:^|,) = Match expression "Beginning of line or string ,"
(\"(?:[^\"]+|\"\")*\"|[^,]*) = A numbered capture group, this will select between 2 alternatives:
stuff in quotes
stuff between commas
This should give you the output you are looking for.
Example code in C#
static Regex csvSplit = new Regex("(?:^|,)(\"(?:[^\"]+|\"\")*\"|[^,]*)", RegexOptions.Compiled);
public static string[] SplitCSV(string input)
{
List<string> list = new List<string>();
string curr = null;
foreach (Match match in csvSplit.Matches(input))
{
curr = match.Value;
if (0 == curr.Length)
{
list.Add("");
}
list.Add(curr.TrimStart(','));
}
return list.ToArray();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(SplitCSV("111,222,\"33,44,55\",666,\"77,88\",\"99\""));
}
Warning As per #MrE's comment - if a rogue new line character appears in a badly formed csv file and you end up with an uneven ("string) you'll get catastrophic backtracking (https://www.regular-expressions.info/catastrophic.html) in your regex and your system will likely crash (like our production system did). Can easily be replicated in Visual Studio and as I've discovered will crash it. A simple try/catch will not trap this issue either.
You should use:
(?:^|,)(\"(?:[^\"])*\"|[^,]*)
instead
Fast and easy:
public static string[] SplitCsv(string line)
{
List<string> result = new List<string>();
StringBuilder currentStr = new StringBuilder("");
bool inQuotes = false;
for (int i = 0; i < line.Length; i++) // For each character
{
if (line[i] == '\"') // Quotes are closing or opening
inQuotes = !inQuotes;
else if (line[i] == ',') // Comma
{
if (!inQuotes) // If not in quotes, end of current string, add it to result
{
result.Add(currentStr.ToString());
currentStr.Clear();
}
else
currentStr.Append(line[i]); // If in quotes, just add it
}
else // Add any other character to current string
currentStr.Append(line[i]);
}
result.Add(currentStr.ToString());
return result.ToArray(); // Return array of all strings
}
With this string as input :
111,222,"33,44,55",666,"77,88","99"
It will return :
111
222
33,44,55
666
77,88
99
i really like jimplode's answer, but I think a version with yield return is a little bit more useful, so here it is:
public IEnumerable<string> SplitCSV(string input)
{
Regex csvSplit = new Regex("(?:^|,)(\"(?:[^\"]+|\"\")*\"|[^,]*)", RegexOptions.Compiled);
foreach (Match match in csvSplit.Matches(input))
{
yield return match.Value.TrimStart(',');
}
}
Maybe it's even more useful to have it like an extension method:
public static class StringHelper
{
public static IEnumerable<string> SplitCSV(this string input)
{
Regex csvSplit = new Regex("(?:^|,)(\"(?:[^\"]+|\"\")*\"|[^,]*)", RegexOptions.Compiled);
foreach (Match match in csvSplit.Matches(input))
{
yield return match.Value.TrimStart(',');
}
}
}
This regular expression works without the need to loop through values and TrimStart(','), like in the accepted answer:
((?<=\")[^\"]*(?=\"(,|$)+)|(?<=,|^)[^,\"]*(?=,|$))
Here is the implementation in C#:
string values = "111,222,\"33,44,55\",666,\"77,88\",\"99\"";
MatchCollection matches = new Regex("((?<=\")[^\"]*(?=\"(,|$)+)|(?<=,|^)[^,\"]*(?=,|$))").Matches(values);
foreach (var match in matches)
{
Console.WriteLine(match);
}
Outputs
111
222
33,44,55
666
77,88
99
None of these answers work when the string has a comma inside quotes, as in "value, 1", or escaped double-quotes, as in "value ""1""", which are valid CSV that should be parsed as value, 1 and value "1", respectively.
This will also work with the tab-delimited format if you pass in a tab instead of a comma as your delimiter.
public static IEnumerable<string> SplitRow(string row, char delimiter = ',')
{
var currentString = new StringBuilder();
var inQuotes = false;
var quoteIsEscaped = false; //Store when a quote has been escaped.
row = string.Format("{0}{1}", row, delimiter); //We add new cells at the delimiter, so append one for the parser.
foreach (var character in row.Select((val, index) => new {val, index}))
{
if (character.val == delimiter) //We hit a delimiter character...
{
if (!inQuotes) //Are we inside quotes? If not, we've hit the end of a cell value.
{
Console.WriteLine(currentString);
yield return currentString.ToString();
currentString.Clear();
}
else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
} else {
if (character.val != ' ')
{
if(character.val == '"') //If we've hit a quote character...
{
if(character.val == '\"' && inQuotes) //Does it appear to be a closing quote?
{
if (row[character.index + 1] == character.val) //If the character afterwards is also a quote, this is to escape that (not a closing quote).
{
quoteIsEscaped = true; //Flag that we are escaped for the next character. Don't add the escaping quote.
}
else if (quoteIsEscaped)
{
quoteIsEscaped = false; //This is an escaped quote. Add it and revert quoteIsEscaped to false.
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
else
{
inQuotes = false;
}
}
else
{
if (!inQuotes)
{
inQuotes = true;
}
else
{
currentString.Append(character.val); //...It's a quote inside a quote.
}
}
}
else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
}
else
{
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(currentString.ToString())) //Append only if not new cell
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
}
}
}
}
With minor updates to the function provided by "Chad Hedgcock".
Updates are on:
Line 26: character.val == '\"' - This can never be true due to the check made on Line 24. i.e. character.val == '"'
Line 28: if (row[character.index + 1] == character.val) added !quoteIsEscaped to escape 3 consecutive quotes.
public static IEnumerable<string> SplitRow(string row, char delimiter = ',')
{
var currentString = new StringBuilder();
var inQuotes = false;
var quoteIsEscaped = false; //Store when a quote has been escaped.
row = string.Format("{0}{1}", row, delimiter); //We add new cells at the delimiter, so append one for the parser.
foreach (var character in row.Select((val, index) => new {val, index}))
{
if (character.val == delimiter) //We hit a delimiter character...
{
if (!inQuotes) //Are we inside quotes? If not, we've hit the end of a cell value.
{
//Console.WriteLine(currentString);
yield return currentString.ToString();
currentString.Clear();
}
else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
} else {
if (character.val != ' ')
{
if(character.val == '"') //If we've hit a quote character...
{
if(character.val == '"' && inQuotes) //Does it appear to be a closing quote?
{
if (row[character.index + 1] == character.val && !quoteIsEscaped) //If the character afterwards is also a quote, this is to escape that (not a closing quote).
{
quoteIsEscaped = true; //Flag that we are escaped for the next character. Don't add the escaping quote.
}
else if (quoteIsEscaped)
{
quoteIsEscaped = false; //This is an escaped quote. Add it and revert quoteIsEscaped to false.
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
else
{
inQuotes = false;
}
}
else
{
if (!inQuotes)
{
inQuotes = true;
}
else
{
currentString.Append(character.val); //...It's a quote inside a quote.
}
}
}
else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
}
else
{
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(currentString.ToString())) //Append only if not new cell
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
}
}
}
}
For Jay's answer, if you use a 2nd boolean then you can have nested double-quotes inside single-quotes and vice-versa.
private string[] splitString(string stringToSplit)
{
char[] characters = stringToSplit.ToCharArray();
List<string> returnValueList = new List<string>();
string tempString = "";
bool blockUntilEndQuote = false;
bool blockUntilEndQuote2 = false;
int characterCount = 0;
foreach (char character in characters)
{
characterCount = characterCount + 1;
if (character == '"' && !blockUntilEndQuote2)
{
if (blockUntilEndQuote == false)
{
blockUntilEndQuote = true;
}
else if (blockUntilEndQuote == true)
{
blockUntilEndQuote = false;
}
}
if (character == '\'' && !blockUntilEndQuote)
{
if (blockUntilEndQuote2 == false)
{
blockUntilEndQuote2 = true;
}
else if (blockUntilEndQuote2 == true)
{
blockUntilEndQuote2 = false;
}
}
if (character != ',')
{
tempString = tempString + character;
}
else if (character == ',' && (blockUntilEndQuote == true || blockUntilEndQuote2 == true))
{
tempString = tempString + character;
}
else
{
returnValueList.Add(tempString);
tempString = "";
}
if (characterCount == characters.Length)
{
returnValueList.Add(tempString);
tempString = "";
}
}
string[] returnValue = returnValueList.ToArray();
return returnValue;
}
The original version
Currently I use the following regex:
public static Regex regexCSVSplit = new Regex(#"(?x:(
(?<FULL>
(^|[,;\t\r\n])\s*
( (?<QUODAT> (?<QUO>[""'])(?<DAT>([^,;\t\r\n]|(?<!\k<QUO>\s*)[,;\t\r\n])*)\k<QUO>) |
(?<QUODAT> (?<DAT> [^""',;\s\r\n]* )) )
(?=\s*([,;\t\r\n]|$))
) |
(?<FULL>
(^|[\s\t\r\n])
( (?<QUODAT> (?<QUO>[""'])(?<DAT> [^""',;\s\t\r\n]* )\k<QUO>) |
(?<QUODAT> (?<DAT> [^""',;\s\t\r\n]* )) )
(?=[,;\s\t\r\n]|$)
)
))", RegexOptions.Compiled);
This solution can handle pretty chaotic cases too like below:
This is how to feed the result into an array:
var data = regexCSVSplit.Matches(line_to_process).Cast<Match>().
Select(x => x.Groups["DAT"].Value).ToArray();
See this example in action HERE
Note: The regular expression contains two set of <FULL> block and each of them contains two <QUODAT> block separated by "or" (|). Depending on your task you may only need one of them.
Note: That this regular expression gives us one string array, and works on single line with or without <carrier return> and/or <line feed>.
Simplified version
The following regular expression will already cover many complex cases:
public static Regex regexCSVSplit = new Regex(#"(?x:(
(?<FULL>
(^|[,;\t\r\n])\s*
(?<QUODAT> (?<QUO>[""'])(?<DAT>([^,;\t\r\n]|(?<!\k<QUO>\s*)[,;\t\r\n])*)\k<QUO>)
(?=\s*([,;\t\r\n]|$))
)
))", RegexOptions.Compiled);
See this example in action: HERE
It can process complex, easy and empty items too:
This is how to feed the result into an array:
var data = regexCSVSplit.Matches(line_to_process).Cast<Match>().
Select(x => x.Groups["DAT"].Value).ToArray();
The main rule here is that every item may contain anything but the <quotation mark><separators><comma> sequence AND each item shall being and end with the same <quotation mark>.
<quotation mark>: <">, <'>
<comma>: <,>, <;>, <tab>, <carrier return>, <line feed>
Edit notes: I added some more explanation to make it easier to understand and replaces the text "CO" with "QUO".
Try this:
string s = #"111,222,""33,44,55"",666,""77,88"",""99""";
List<string> result = new List<string>();
var splitted = s.Split('"').ToList<string>();
splitted.RemoveAll(x => x == ",");
foreach (var it in splitted)
{
if (it.StartsWith(",") || it.EndsWith(","))
{
var tmp = it.TrimEnd(',').TrimStart(',');
result.AddRange(tmp.Split(','));
}
else
{
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(it)) result.Add(it);
}
}
//Results:
foreach (var it in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(it);
}
I know I'm a bit late to this, but for searches, here is how I did what you are asking about in C sharp
private string[] splitString(string stringToSplit)
{
char[] characters = stringToSplit.ToCharArray();
List<string> returnValueList = new List<string>();
string tempString = "";
bool blockUntilEndQuote = false;
int characterCount = 0;
foreach (char character in characters)
{
characterCount = characterCount + 1;
if (character == '"')
{
if (blockUntilEndQuote == false)
{
blockUntilEndQuote = true;
}
else if (blockUntilEndQuote == true)
{
blockUntilEndQuote = false;
}
}
if (character != ',')
{
tempString = tempString + character;
}
else if (character == ',' && blockUntilEndQuote == true)
{
tempString = tempString + character;
}
else
{
returnValueList.Add(tempString);
tempString = "";
}
if (characterCount == characters.Length)
{
returnValueList.Add(tempString);
tempString = "";
}
}
string[] returnValue = returnValueList.ToArray();
return returnValue;
}
Don't reinvent a CSV parser, try FileHelpers.
I needed something a little more robust, so I took from here and created this... This solution is a little less elegant and a little more verbose, but in my testing (with a 1,000,000 row sample), I found this to be 2 to 3 times faster. Plus it handles non-escaped, embedded quotes. I used string delimiter and qualifiers instead of chars because of the requirements of my solution. I found it more difficult than I expected to find a good, generic CSV parser so I hope this parsing algorithm can help someone.
public static string[] SplitRow(string record, string delimiter, string qualifier, bool trimData)
{
// In-Line for example, but I implemented as string extender in production code
Func <string, int, int> IndexOfNextNonWhiteSpaceChar = delegate (string source, int startIndex)
{
if (startIndex >= 0)
{
if (source != null)
{
for (int i = startIndex; i < source.Length; i++)
{
if (!char.IsWhiteSpace(source[i]))
{
return i;
}
}
}
}
return -1;
};
var results = new List<string>();
var result = new StringBuilder();
var inQualifier = false;
var inField = false;
// We add new columns at the delimiter, so append one for the parser.
var row = $"{record}{delimiter}";
for (var idx = 0; idx < row.Length; idx++)
{
// A delimiter character...
if (row[idx]== delimiter[0])
{
// Are we inside qualifier? If not, we've hit the end of a column value.
if (!inQualifier)
{
results.Add(trimData ? result.ToString().Trim() : result.ToString());
result.Clear();
inField = false;
}
else
{
result.Append(row[idx]);
}
}
// NOT a delimiter character...
else
{
// ...Not a space character
if (row[idx] != ' ')
{
// A qualifier character...
if (row[idx] == qualifier[0])
{
// Qualifier is closing qualifier...
if (inQualifier && row[IndexOfNextNonWhiteSpaceChar(row, idx + 1)] == delimiter[0])
{
inQualifier = false;
continue;
}
else
{
// ...Qualifier is opening qualifier
if (!inQualifier)
{
inQualifier = true;
}
// ...It's a qualifier inside a qualifier.
else
{
inField = true;
result.Append(row[idx]);
}
}
}
// Not a qualifier character...
else
{
result.Append(row[idx]);
inField = true;
}
}
// ...A space character
else
{
if (inQualifier || inField)
{
result.Append(row[idx]);
}
}
}
}
return results.ToArray<string>();
}
Some test code:
//var input = "111,222,\"33,44,55\",666,\"77,88\",\"99\"";
var input =
"111, 222, \"99\",\"33,44,55\" , \"666 \"mark of a man\"\", \" spaces \"77,88\" \"";
Console.WriteLine("Split with trim");
Console.WriteLine("---------------");
var result = SplitRow(input, ",", "\"", true);
foreach (var r in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(r);
}
Console.WriteLine("");
// Split 2
Console.WriteLine("Split with no trim");
Console.WriteLine("------------------");
var result2 = SplitRow(input, ",", "\"", false);
foreach (var r in result2)
{
Console.WriteLine(r);
}
Console.WriteLine("");
// Time Trial 1
Console.WriteLine("Experimental Process (1,000,000) iterations");
Console.WriteLine("-------------------------------------------");
watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
for (var i = 0; i < 1000000; i++)
{
var x1 = SplitRow(input, ",", "\"", false);
}
watch.Stop();
elapsedMs = watch.ElapsedMilliseconds;
Console.WriteLine($"Total Process Time: {string.Format("{0:0.###}", elapsedMs / 1000.0)} Seconds");
Console.WriteLine("");
Results
Split with trim
---------------
111
222
99
33,44,55
666 "mark of a man"
spaces "77,88"
Split with no trim
------------------
111
222
99
33,44,55
666 "mark of a man"
spaces "77,88"
Original Process (1,000,000) iterations
-------------------------------
Total Process Time: 7.538 Seconds
Experimental Process (1,000,000) iterations
--------------------------------------------
Total Process Time: 3.363 Seconds
I once had to do something similar and in the end I got stuck with Regular Expressions. The inability for Regex to have state makes it pretty tricky - I just ended up writing a simple little parser.
If you're doing CSV parsing you should just stick to using a CSV parser - don't reinvent the wheel.
Here is my fastest implementation based upon string raw pointer manipulation:
string[] FastSplit(string sText, char? cSeparator = null, char? cQuotes = null)
{
string[] oTokens;
if (null == cSeparator)
{
cSeparator = DEFAULT_PARSEFIELDS_SEPARATOR;
}
if (null == cQuotes)
{
cQuotes = DEFAULT_PARSEFIELDS_QUOTE;
}
unsafe
{
fixed (char* lpText = sText)
{
#region Fast array estimatation
char* lpCurrent = lpText;
int nEstimatedSize = 0;
while (0 != *lpCurrent)
{
if (cSeparator == *lpCurrent)
{
nEstimatedSize++;
}
lpCurrent++;
}
nEstimatedSize++; // Add EOL char(s)
string[] oEstimatedTokens = new string[nEstimatedSize];
#endregion
#region Parsing
char[] oBuffer = new char[sText.Length];
int nIndex = 0;
int nTokens = 0;
lpCurrent = lpText;
while (0 != *lpCurrent)
{
if (cQuotes == *lpCurrent)
{
// Quotes parsing
lpCurrent++; // Skip quote
nIndex = 0; // Reset buffer
while (
(0 != *lpCurrent)
&& (cQuotes != *lpCurrent)
)
{
oBuffer[nIndex] = *lpCurrent; // Store char
lpCurrent++; // Move source cursor
nIndex++; // Move target cursor
}
}
else if (cSeparator == *lpCurrent)
{
// Separator char parsing
oEstimatedTokens[nTokens++] = new string(oBuffer, 0, nIndex); // Store token
nIndex = 0; // Skip separator and Reset buffer
}
else
{
// Content parsing
oBuffer[nIndex] = *lpCurrent; // Store char
nIndex++; // Move target cursor
}
lpCurrent++; // Move source cursor
}
// Recover pending buffer
if (nIndex > 0)
{
// Store token
oEstimatedTokens[nTokens++] = new string(oBuffer, 0, nIndex);
}
// Build final tokens list
if (nTokens == nEstimatedSize)
{
oTokens = oEstimatedTokens;
}
else
{
oTokens = new string[nTokens];
Array.Copy(oEstimatedTokens, 0, oTokens, 0, nTokens);
}
#endregion
}
}
// Epilogue
return oTokens;
}
Try this
private string[] GetCommaSeperatedWords(string sep, string line)
{
List<string> list = new List<string>();
StringBuilder word = new StringBuilder();
int doubleQuoteCount = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < line.Length; i++)
{
string chr = line[i].ToString();
if (chr == "\"")
{
if (doubleQuoteCount == 0)
doubleQuoteCount++;
else
doubleQuoteCount--;
continue;
}
if (chr == sep && doubleQuoteCount == 0)
{
list.Add(word.ToString());
word = new StringBuilder();
continue;
}
word.Append(chr);
}
list.Add(word.ToString());
return list.ToArray();
}
This is Chad's answer rewritten with state based logic. His answered failed for me when it came across """BRAD""" as a field. That should return "BRAD" but it just ate up all the remaining fields. When I tried to debug it I just ended up rewriting it as state based logic:
enum SplitState { s_begin, s_infield, s_inquotefield, s_foundquoteinfield };
public static IEnumerable<string> SplitRow(string row, char delimiter = ',')
{
var currentString = new StringBuilder();
SplitState state = SplitState.s_begin;
row = string.Format("{0}{1}", row, delimiter); //We add new cells at the delimiter, so append one for the parser.
foreach (var character in row.Select((val, index) => new { val, index }))
{
//Console.WriteLine("character = " + character.val + " state = " + state);
switch (state)
{
case SplitState.s_begin:
if (character.val == delimiter)
{
/* empty field */
yield return currentString.ToString();
currentString.Clear();
} else if (character.val == '"')
{
state = SplitState.s_inquotefield;
} else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
state = SplitState.s_infield;
}
break;
case SplitState.s_infield:
if (character.val == delimiter)
{
/* field with data */
yield return currentString.ToString();
state = SplitState.s_begin;
currentString.Clear();
} else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
break;
case SplitState.s_inquotefield:
if (character.val == '"')
{
// could be end of field, or escaped quote.
state = SplitState.s_foundquoteinfield;
} else
{
currentString.Append(character.val);
}
break;
case SplitState.s_foundquoteinfield:
if (character.val == '"')
{
// found escaped quote.
currentString.Append(character.val);
state = SplitState.s_inquotefield;
}
else if (character.val == delimiter)
{
// must have been last quote so we must find delimiter
yield return currentString.ToString();
state = SplitState.s_begin;
currentString.Clear();
}
else
{
throw new Exception("Quoted field not terminated.");
}
break;
default:
throw new Exception("unknown state:" + state);
}
}
//Console.WriteLine("currentstring = " + currentString.ToString());
}
This is a lot more lines of code than the other solutions, but it is easy to modify to add edge cases.
I have a question about read a text file, because i dont know if i'm thinking right. I want to read from specific string to specific character.
My text would look like this:
...
...
CM_ "Hello, how are you?
Rules: Don't smoke!
- love others
End";
...
CM_ "Why you?";
...// Many CM_
...
After Splited should look like that:
1. CM_
2. "Hello, how are you?
Rules: Don't smoke!
- love others
End"
3. CM_
4. "Why you?"
... // many CM_
I want to read from "CM_" till ";"
My Code i tried so far:
StreamReader fin = new StreamReader("text.txt");
string tmp = "";
tmp = fin.ReadToEnd();
if (tmp.StartsWith("CM_ ") && tmp.EndWith(";"))
{
var result = tmp.Split(new[] { '"' }).SelectMany((s, i) =>
{
if (i % 2 == 1) return new[] { s };
return s.Split(new[] { ' ', ';' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
}).ToList();
}
foreach (string x in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(x);
}
static void PRegex()
{
using (StreamReader fin = new StreamReader("text.txt"))
{
string tmp = fin.ReadToEnd();
var matches = Regex.Matches(tmp, "(CM_) ([^;]*);", RegexOptions.Singleline);
for (int i = 0; i < matches.Count; i++)
if (matches[i].Groups.Count == 3)
Console.WriteLine((2 * i + 1).ToString() + ". " + matches[i].Groups[1].Value + "\r\n" + (2 * (i + 1)).ToString() + ". " + matches[i].Groups[2].Value);
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
static void PLineByLine()
{
using (StreamReader fin = new StreamReader("text.txt"))
{
int index = 0;
string line = null;
string currentCMBlock = null;
bool endOfBlock = true;
while ((line = fin.ReadLine()) != null)
{
bool endOfLine = false;
while (!endOfLine)
{
if (endOfBlock)
{
int startIndex = line.IndexOf("CM_ ");
if (startIndex == -1)
{
endOfLine = true;
continue;
}
line = line.Substring(startIndex + 4, line.Length - startIndex - 4);
endOfBlock = false;
}
if (!endOfBlock)
{
int startIndex = line.IndexOf(";");
if (startIndex == -1)
{
currentCMBlock += line + "\r\n";
endOfLine = true;
continue;
}
currentCMBlock += line.Substring(0, startIndex);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(currentCMBlock))
Console.WriteLine((++index) + ". CM_\r\n" + (++index) + ". " + currentCMBlock);
currentCMBlock = null;
line = line.Substring(startIndex + 1, line.Length - startIndex - 1);
endOfBlock = true;
}
}
}
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
You are reading the whole file into tmp. So, if there is any text before "CM_" then your conditional statement won't be entered.
Instead, try reading line by line with fin.ReadLine in a loop over all lines.
Read the whole file:
string FileToRead = File.ReadAllText("Path");
string GetContent(string StartAt, string EndAt, bool LastIndex)
{
string ReturnVal;
if(LastIndex)
{
ReturnVal = FileToRead.Remove(FileToRead.IndexOf(StartAt), FileToRead.IndexOf(EndAt));
Return ReturnVal;
}
else
{
ReturnVal = FileToRead.Remove(FileToRead.LastIndex(StartAt), FileToRead.LastIndex(EndAt));
Return ReturnVal;
}
}
-Hope I didn't do anything wrong here. (Free mind typing)
You read the file, and we remove all the content, infront of the first index. and all after it.
You can set it if will return the FIRST result found. or the last.
NOTE: I think it would be better to use a StringReader. (If I don't remember wrong...)
If you are to think about the memory usage of your application.
I tried something else, don't know if this is good. It still read the first Line, dont know that i did wrong here
my Code:
while ((tmp = fin.ReadLine()) != null)
{
if (tmp.StartsWith("CM_ "))
{
//string[] tmpList = tmp.Split(new Char[] { ' ', ';' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var result = tmp.Split(new[] { '"' }).SelectMany((s, i) =>
{
if (i % 2 == 1) return new[] { s };
return s.Split(new[] { ' ', ';' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
}).ToList();
if (tmp.EndsWith(";")) break;
fin.ReadLine();
if (tmp.EndsWith(";"))
{
result.ToList();
break;
}
else
{
result.ToList();
fin.ReadLine();
}
foreach (string x in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(x);
}
}
I suggest you look into using Regular Expressions. It may be just what you need and much more flexible than Split().
I have actually misunderstood the issue originally,
Basically I have checks to see if there is an error, and to check for certain horrible characters that will break it, however this will not work with brackets, i need to basically check if there are ANY brackets within the string before passing it through SQL and if there are, remove them outright from the string.
for example say I have a string that looks like
[I am a magical string with super powers!){
I wish to remove all of these horrible brackets!
if (compiler.Parser.GetErrors().Count == 0)
{
AstNode root = compiler.Parse(phrase.ToLower());
if (compiler.Parser.GetErrors().Count == 0)
{
try
{
fTextSearch = SearchGrammar.ConvertQuery(root, SearchGrammar.TermType.Inflectional);
}
catch
{
fTextSearch = phrase;
}
}
else
{
fTextSearch = phrase;
}
}
else
{
fTextSearch = phrase;
}
string[] errorChars = errorChars = new string[]
{
"'",
"&"
};
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
string[] splitString = fTextSearch.Split(errorChars, StringSplitOptions.None);
int numNewCharactersAdded = 0;
foreach (string itm in splitString)
{
sb.Append(itm); //append string
if (fTextSearch.Length > (sb.Length - numNewCharactersAdded))
{
sb.Append(fTextSearch[sb.Length - numNewCharactersAdded]); //append splitting character
sb.Append(fTextSearch[sb.Length - numNewCharactersAdded - 1]); //append it again
numNewCharactersAdded++;
}
}
string newString = sb.ToString();
//Union with the full text search
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(fTextSearch))
{
sql.AppendLine("UNION");
sql.AppendLine(commonClause);
sql.AppendLine(string.Format("AND CONTAINS(nt.text, '{0}', LANGUAGE 'English')", newString));
}
this is one way to do it. You can make it more sophisticated by having a set of characters passed in and then testing for those characters rather than hard coding for the brackets.
var someString = "[Hello"
if(someString.contains("["))
{
someString.Replace("[","");
}
if (someString.Contains("]"))
{
someString.Replace("]","");
}
If I understand you right, you just want to remove the brackets if they are not matching.
This will accomplish that:
public string MatchPair(string input, string item1, string item2)
{
var ix1 = input.IndexOf(item1);
var ix2 = input.IndexOf(item2);
if ((ix1 != -1) && (ix2 != -1))
{
return input;
}
if (ix1 == -1)
{
return this.CutString(input, ix2, item2);
}
if (ix2 == -1)
{
return this.CutString(input, ix1, item1);
}
return string.Empty;
}
public string CutString(string input, int ix, string item)
{
string left = input.Substring(0, ix);
string right = input.Substring(ix + item.Length);
return left + right;
}
Here is some testdata that I used:
var str1 = "[hello]";
var str2 = "[hello";
var str3 = "hel]lo";
var str4 = "hel[lo";
var res1 = this.MatchPair(str1, "[", "]");
var res2 = this.MatchPair(str2, "[", "]");
var res3 = this.MatchPair(str3, "[", "]");
var res4 = this.MatchPair(str4, "[", "]");