Develop Reference

Spliting a string multiple times by a word?

Im making the switch from Visual Basic to c#. In my project i had it split a string a few times and one of them being by a word. Here was my VB code:
Dim Item As String() = New String() {TXTItem1.Text + "-"}
If Foods.Contains(TXTItem1.Text) Then
Dim Substring As String = Foods.Split(Item, StringSplitOptions.None)(1)
Dim SPValue As String = Substring.Split(vbNewLine)(0)
MsgBox(SPValue)
Now here is my c# code:
string[] Item = new string[] {TXTSearchItem.Text + "-"};
if (Foods.Contains(TXTSearchItem.Text))
{
string Substring = Foods.Split(Item, StringSplitOptions.None)[1];
MessageBox.Show(Substring);
For some reason i cannot split it again and the MessageBox isnt even showing. Any help? Thanks!

What is the Foods object? Is that an array or a String?
If I'm not mistaken, I believe that the Split extension method on a string would create an Array of type String instead of a String.
So that MessageBox.Show method may only be showing the String array as an object or not compiling correctly since Substring is declared as a String instead of an Array.
*Edit.
Would this be what you are looking for? This would only show the information that occurs after the Item String Array in the MessageBox.Show method.
string[] Item = new string[] { TXTSearchItem.Text + "-" };
if (Foods.ToLower().Contains(TXTSearchItem.Text.ToLower()))
{
string Substring = Foods.Split(Item, StringSplitOptions.None)[1];
MessageBox.Show(Substring);
}

Rather than using string.Split, how about you just search for what you are looking for; it's probably simpler:
const string foods = "Banana-21\r\nEggs-123\r\n";
const string item = "banana";
var startIndex = foods.IndexOf(item + "-", StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase);
var dashIndex = foods.IndexOf("-", startIndex);
var endIndex = foods.IndexOf("\r\n", startIndex);
var foodName = foods.Substring(startIndex, dashIndex - startIndex);
var footCount = foods.Substring(dashIndex + 1, endIndex - dashIndex - 1);
MessageBox.Show($"[{foodName}]: {footCount}");
But, if you really want to use string.Split, here's an example (doing something similar):
const string foods = "Banana-21\r\nEggs-123\r\nCandy-1\r\n";
var foodItems = new Dictionary<string, int>();
var records = foods.Split(new[]{ "\r\n" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
foreach (var foodRecord in records)
{
var parts = foodRecord.Split(new[] { "-" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
if (!int.TryParse(parts[1], out var foodCount))
{
foodCount = 0;
}
foodItems.Add(parts[0], foodCount);
}
After that code runs, you end up with foodItems containing:
[0] {[Banana, 21]}
[1] {[Eggs, 123]}
[2] {[Candy, 1]}
For what it's worth, it makes a lot more sense (to me, at least) to split on the line ends first, then split each line (or just the line you are interested in).

Parsing a string with, seemingly, no delimiter

I have the following string that I need to parse out so I can insert them into a DB. The delimiter is "`":
`020 Some Description `060 A Different Description `100 And Yet Another `
I split the string into an array using this
var responseArray = response.Split('`');
So then each item in the responseArrray[] looks like this: 020 Some Description
How would I get the two different parts out of that array? The 1st part will be either 3 or 4 characters long. 2nd part will be no more then 35 characters long.
Due to some ridiculous strangeness beyond my control there is random amounts of space between the 1st and 2nd part.

Or put the other two answers together, and get something that's more complete:
string[] response = input.Split(`);
foreach (String str in response) {
int splitIndex = str.IndexOf(' ');
string num = str.Substring(0, splitIndex);
string desc = str.Substring(splitIndex);
desc.Trim();
}
so, basically you use the first space as a delimiter to create 2 strings. Then you trim the second one, since trim only applies to leading and trailing spaces, not everything in between.
Edit: this a straight implementation of Brad M's comment.

You can try this solution:
var inputString = "`020 Some Description `060 A Different Description `100 And Yet Another `";
int firstWordLength = 3;
int secondWordMaxLength = 35;
var result =inputString.Split('`')
.SelectMany(x => new[]
{
new String(x.Take(firstWordLength).ToArray()).Trim(),
new String(x.Skip(firstWordLength).Take(secondWordMaxLength).ToArray()).Trim()
});
Here is the result in LINQPad:
Update: My first solution has some problems because the use of Trim after Take.Here is another approach with an extension method:
public static class Extensions
{
public static IEnumerable<string> GetWords(this string source,int firstWordLengt,int secondWordLenght)
{
List<string> words = new List<string>();
foreach (var word in source.Split(new[] {'`'}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries))
{
var parts = word.Split(new[] {' '}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
words.Add(new string(parts[0].Take(firstWordLengt).ToArray()));
words.Add(new string(string.Join(" ",parts.Skip(1)).Take(secondWordLenght).ToArray()));
}
return words;
}
}
And here is the test result:

Try this
string response = "020 Some Description060 A Different Description 100 And Yet Another";
var responseArray = response.Split('`');
string[] splitArray = {};
string result = "";
foreach (string it in responseArray)
{
splitArray = it.Split(' ');
foreach (string ot in splitArray)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ot))
result += "-" + ot.Trim();
}
}
splitArray = result.Substring(1).Split('-');

string[] entries = input.Split('`');
foreach (string s in entries)
GetStringParts(s);
IEnumerable<String> GetStringParts(String input)
{
foreach (string s in input.Split(' ')
yield return s.Trim();
}
Trim only removes leading/trailing whitespace per MSDN, so spaces in the description won't hurt you.

If the first part is an integer
And you need to account for some empty
For me the first pass was empty
public void parse()
{
string s = #"`020 Some Description `060 A Different Description `100 And Yet Another `";
Int32 first;
String second;
if (s.Contains('`'))
{
foreach (string firstSecond in s.Split('`'))
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(firstSecond);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(firstSecond))
{
firstSecond.TrimStart();
Int32 firstSpace = firstSecond.IndexOf(' ');
if (firstSpace > 0)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("'" + firstSecond.Substring(0, firstSpace) + "'");
if (Int32.TryParse(firstSecond.Substring(0, firstSpace), out first))
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("'" + firstSecond.Substring(firstSpace-1) + "'");
second = firstSecond.Substring(firstSpace).Trim();
}
}
}
}
}
}

You can get the first part by finding the first space and make a substring. The second is also a Substring. Try something like this.
foreach(string st in response)
{
int index = response.IndexOf(' ');
string firstPart = response.Substring(0, index);
//string secondPart = response.Substring(response.Lenght-35);
//better use this
string secondPart = response.Substring(index);
secondPart.Trim();
}

How to delete words between specified chars?

I want to create a method that reads from every line from a file. Next, it has to check between the pipes and determine if there are words that are more than three characters long, and are only numbers. In the file are strings organized like this:
What's going on {noway|that's cool|1293328|why|don't know|see}
With this sentence, the software should remove 1293328.
The resulting sentence would be:
What's going on {noway|that's cool|don't know}
Until now I am reading every line from the file and I made the functions that determine if the words between | | have to be deleted or not (checking a string like noway,that's cool, etc)
I don't know how to get the strings between the pipes.

You can split a string by a character using the Split method.
string YourStringVariable = "{noway|that's cool|1293328|why|don't know|see}";
YourStringVariable.Split('|'); //Returns an array of the strings between the brackets

What's about:
string RemoveValues(string sentence, string[] values){
foreach(string s in values){
while(sentence.IndexOf("|" + s) != -1 && sentence.IndexOf("|" + s) != 0){
sentence = sentence.Remove(sentence.IndexOf("|" + s), s.Lenght + 1);
}
}
return sentence;
}
In your case:
string[] values = new string[3]{ "1293328", "why", "see" };
string sentence = RemoveValues("noway|that's cool|1293328|why|don't know|see", values);
//result: noway|that's cool|don't know

string YourStringVariable = "{noway|that's cool|1293328|why|don't know|see}";
string[] SplitValue=g.Split('|');
string FinalValue = string.Empty;
for (int i = 0; i < SplitValue.Length; i++)
{
if (!SplitValue[i].ToString().Any(char.IsDigit))
{
FinalValue += SplitValue[i]+"|";
}
}

How to split string that delimiters remain in the end of result?

I have several delimiters. For example {del1, del2, del3 }.
Suppose I have text : Text1 del1 text2 del2 text3 del3
I want to split string in such way:
Text1 del1
text2 del2
text3 del3
I need to get array of strings, when every element of array is texti deli.
How can I do this in C# ?

String.Split allows multiple split-delimeters. I don't know if that fits your question though.
Example :
String text = "Test;Test1:Test2#Test3";
var split = text.Split(';', ':', '#');
//split contains an array of "Test", "Test1", "Test2", "Test3"
Edit: you can use a regex to keep the delimeters.
String text = "Test;Test1:Test2#Test3";
var split = Regex.Split(text, #"(?<=[;:#])");
// contains "Test;", "Test1:", "Test2#","Test3"

This should do the trick:
const string input = "text1-text2;text3-text4-text5;text6--";
const string matcher= "(-|;)";
string[] substrings = Regex.Split(input, matcher);
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (string entry in substrings)
{
builder.Append(entry);
}
Console.Out.WriteLine(builder.ToString());
note that you will receive empty strings in your substring array for the matches for the two '-';s at the end, you can choose to ignore or do what you like with those values.

You could use a regex. For a string like this "text1;text2|text3^" you could use this:
(.*;|.*\||.*\^)
Just add more alternative pattens for each delimiter.

If you want to keep the delimiter when splitting the string you can use the following:
string[] delimiters = { "del1", "del2", "del3" };
string input = "text1del1text2del2text3del3";
string[] parts = input.Split(delimiters, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
for(int index = 0; index < parts.Length; index++)
{
string part = parts[index];
string temp = input.Substring(input.IndexOf(part) + part.Length);
foreach (string delimter in delimiters)
{
if ( temp.IndexOf(delimter) == 0)
{
parts[index] += delimter;
break;
}
}
}
parts will then be:
[0] "text1del1"
[1] "text2del2"
[2] "text3del3"

As #Matt Burland suggested, use Regex
List<string> values = new List<string>();
string s = "abc123;def456-hijk,";
Regex r = new Regex(#"(.*;|.*-|.*,)");
foreach(Match m in r.Matches(s))
values.Add(m.Value);

Using String Split

I have a text
Category2,"Something with ,comma"
when I split this by ',' it should give me two string
Category2
"Something with ,comma"
but in actual it split string from every comma.
how can I achieve my expected result.
Thanx

Just call variable.Split(new char[] { ',' }, 2). Complete documentation in MSDN.

There are a number of things that you could be wanting to do here so I will address a few:
Split on the first comma
String text = text.Split(new char[] { ',' }, 2);
Split on every comma
String text = text.Split(new char[] {','});
Split on a comma not in "
var result = Regex.Split(samplestring, ",(?=(?:[^']*'[^']*')*[^']*$)");
Last one taken from C# Regex Split

Specify the maximum number of strings you want in the array:
string[] parts = text.Split(new char[] { ',' }, 2);

String.Split works at the simplest, fastest level - so it splits the text on all of the delimiters you pass into it, and it has no concept of special rules like double-quotes.
If you need a CSV parser which understands double-quotes, then you can write your own or there are some excellent open source parsers available - e.g. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/CsvReader.aspx - this is one I've used in several projects and recommend.

Try this:
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<string> SplitToSubstrings(this string str)
{
int startIndex = 0;
bool isInQuotes = false;
for (int index = 0; index < str.Length; index++ )
{
if (str[index] == '\"')
isInQuotes = !isInQuotes;
bool isStartOfNewSubstring = (!isInQuotes && str[index] == ',');
if (isStartOfNewSubstring)
{
yield return str.Substring(startIndex, index - startIndex).Trim();
startIndex = index + 1;
}
}
yield return str.Substring(startIndex).Trim();
}
}
Usage is pretty simple:
foreach(var str in text.SplitToSubstrings())
Console.WriteLine(str);