Develop Reference

Best way to split string into lines with maximum length, without breaking words

I want to break a string up into lines of a specified maximum length, without splitting any words, if possible (if there is a word that exceeds the maximum line length, then it will have to be split).
As always, I am acutely aware that strings are immutable and that one should preferably use the StringBuilder class. I have seen examples where the string is split into words and the lines are then built up using the StringBuilder class, but the code below seems "neater" to me.
I mentioned "best" in the description and not "most efficient" as I am also interested in the "eloquence" of the code. The strings will never be huge, generally splitting into 2 or three lines, and it won't be happening for thousands of lines.
Is the following code really bad?
private static IEnumerable<string> SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maximumLineLength)
{
stringToSplit = stringToSplit.Trim();
var lines = new List<string>();
while (stringToSplit.Length > 0)
{
if (stringToSplit.Length <= maximumLineLength)
{
lines.Add(stringToSplit);
break;
}
var indexOfLastSpaceInLine = stringToSplit.Substring(0, maximumLineLength).LastIndexOf(' ');
lines.Add(stringToSplit.Substring(0, indexOfLastSpaceInLine >= 0 ? indexOfLastSpaceInLine : maximumLineLength).Trim());
stringToSplit = stringToSplit.Substring(indexOfLastSpaceInLine >= 0 ? indexOfLastSpaceInLine + 1 : maximumLineLength);
}
return lines.ToArray();
}

Even when this post is 3 years old I wanted to give a better solution using Regex to accomplish the same:
If you want the string to be splitted and then use the text to be displayed you can use this:
public string SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maximumLineLength)
{
return Regex.Replace(stringToSplit, #"(.{1," + maximumLineLength +#"})(?:\s|$)", "$1\n");
}
If on the other hand you need a collection you can use this:
public MatchCollection SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maximumLineLength)
{
return Regex.Matches(stringToSplit, #"(.{1," + maximumLineLength +#"})(?:\s|$)");
}
NOTES
Remember to import regex (using System.Text.RegularExpressions;)
You can use string interpolation on the match:
$#"(.{{1,{maximumLineLength}}})(?:\s|$)"
The MatchCollection works almost like an Array
Matching example with explanation here

How about this as a solution:
IEnumerable<string> SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maximumLineLength)
{
var words = stringToSplit.Split(' ').Concat(new [] { "" });
return
words
.Skip(1)
.Aggregate(
words.Take(1).ToList(),
(a, w) =>
{
var last = a.Last();
while (last.Length > maximumLineLength)
{
a[a.Count() - 1] = last.Substring(0, maximumLineLength);
last = last.Substring(maximumLineLength);
a.Add(last);
}
var test = last + " " + w;
if (test.Length > maximumLineLength)
{
a.Add(w);
}
else
{
a[a.Count() - 1] = test;
}
return a;
});
}
I reworked this as prefer this:
IEnumerable<string> SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maximumLineLength)
{
var words = stringToSplit.Split(' ');
var line = words.First();
foreach (var word in words.Skip(1))
{
var test = $"{line} {word}";
if (test.Length > maximumLineLength)
{
yield return line;
line = word;
}
else
{
line = test;
}
}
yield return line;
}

I don't think your solution is too bad. I do, however, think you should break up your ternary into an if else because you are testing the same condition twice. Your code might also have a bug. Based on your description, it seems you want lines <= maxLineLength, but your code counts the space after the last word and uses it in the <= comparison resulting in effectively < behavior for the trimmed string.
Here is my solution.
private static IEnumerable<string> SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maxLineLength)
{
string[] words = stringToSplit.Split(' ');
StringBuilder line = new StringBuilder();
foreach (string word in words)
{
if (word.Length + line.Length <= maxLineLength)
{
line.Append(word + " ");
}
else
{
if (line.Length > 0)
{
yield return line.ToString().Trim();
line.Clear();
}
string overflow = word;
while (overflow.Length > maxLineLength)
{
yield return overflow.Substring(0, maxLineLength);
overflow = overflow.Substring(maxLineLength);
}
line.Append(overflow + " ");
}
}
yield return line.ToString().Trim();
}
It is a bit longer than your solution, but it should be more straightforward. It also uses a StringBuilder so it is much faster for large strings. I performed a benchmarking test for 20,000 words ranging from 1 to 11 characters each split into lines of 10 character width. My method completed in 14ms compared to 1373ms for your method.

Try this (untested)
private static IEnumerable<string> SplitToLines(string value, int maximumLineLength)
{
var words = value.Split(' ');
var line = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var word in words)
{
if ((line.Length + word.Length) >= maximumLineLength)
{
yield return line.ToString();
line = new StringBuilder();
}
line.AppendFormat("{0}{1}", (line.Length>0) ? " " : "", word);
}
yield return line.ToString();
}

~6x faster than the accepted answer
More than 1.5x faster than the Regex version in Release Mode (dependent on line length)
Optionally keep the space at the end of the line or not (the regex version always keeps it)
static IEnumerable<string> SplitToLines(string stringToSplit, int maximumLineLength, bool removeSpace = true)
{
int start = 0;
int end = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < stringToSplit.Length; i++)
{
char c = stringToSplit[i];
if (c == ' ' || c == '\n')
{
if (i - start > maximumLineLength)
{
string substring = stringToSplit.Substring(start, end - start); ;
start = removeSpace ? end + 1 : end; // + 1 to remove the space on the next line
yield return substring;
}
else
end = i;
}
}
yield return stringToSplit.Substring(start); // remember last line
}
Here is the example code used to test speeds (again, run on your own machine and test in Release mode to get accurate timings)
https://dotnetfiddle.net/h5I1GC
Timings on my machine in release mode .Net 4.8
Accepted Answer: 667ms
Regex: 368ms
My Version: 117ms

My requirement was to have a line break at the last space before the 30 char limit.
So here is how i did it. Hope this helps anyone looking.
private string LineBreakLongString(string input)
{
var outputString = string.Empty;
var found = false;
int pos = 0;
int prev = 0;
while (!found)
{
var p = input.IndexOf(' ', pos);
{
if (pos <= 30)
{
pos++;
if (p < 30) { prev = p; }
}
else
{
found = true;
}
}
outputString = input.Substring(0, prev) + System.Environment.NewLine + input.Substring(prev, input.Length - prev).Trim();
}
return outputString;
}

An approach using recursive method and ReadOnlySpan (Tested)
public static void SplitToLines(ReadOnlySpan<char> stringToSplit, int index, ref List<string> values)
{
if (stringToSplit.IsEmpty || index < 1) return;
var nextIndex = stringToSplit.IndexOf(' ');
var slice = stringToSplit.Slice(0, nextIndex < 0 ? stringToSplit.Length : nextIndex);
if (slice.Length <= index)
{
values.Add(slice.ToString());
nextIndex++;
}
else
{
values.Add(slice.Slice(0, index).ToString());
nextIndex = index;
}
if (stringToSplit.Length <= index) return;
SplitToLines(stringToSplit.Slice(nextIndex), index, ref values);
}

How to split string with date in c#

i have string with date , i want to split it with date and string
For example :
I have this type of strings data
9/23/2013/marking abandoned based on notes below/DB
12/8/2012/I think the thid is string/SG
and i want to make it like as
9/23/2013 marking abandoned based on notes below/DB
12/8/2013 I think the thid is string/SG
so, i don't know how to split these strings and store in different columns of table.
pls help me.

string[] vals = { "9/23/2013/marking abandoned based on notes below/DB",
"12/8/2012/I think the thid is string/SG" };
var regex = #"(\d{1,2}/\d{1,2}/\d{4})/(.*)";
var matches = vals.Select(val => Regex.Match(vals, regex));
foreach (var match in matches)
{
Console.WriteLine ("{0} {1}", match.Groups[1], match.Groups[2]);
}
prints:
9/23/2013 marking abandoned based on notes below/DB
12/8/2012 I think the thid is string/SG
(\d{1,2}/\d{1,2}/\d{4})/(.*) breaks down to
(\d{1,2}/\d{1,2}/\d{4}):
\d{1,2} - matches any one or two digit number
/ - matches to one / symbol
\d{4} - matches to four digit number
(...) - denotes first group
(.*) - matches everything else and creates second group

Another way to do it with LINQ:
var inputs = new[]{
"9/23/2013/marking abandoned based on notes below/DB",
"12/8/2012/I think the thid is string/SG"
};
foreach (var item in inputs)
{
int counter = 0;
var r = item.Split('/')
.Aggregate("", (a, b) =>
a + ((counter++ == 3) ? "\t" : ((counter == 1) ? "" : "/")) + b);
Console.WriteLine(r);
}
Or you may use the IndexOf and Substring methods:
foreach (var item in inputs)
{
var lastPos =
item.IndexOf('/',
1 + item.IndexOf('/',
1 + item.IndexOf('/')));
if (lastPos != -1)
{
var r = String.Join("\t",
item.Substring(0, lastPos),
item.Substring(lastPos + 1, item.Length - lastPos - 1));
Console.WriteLine(r);
}
}

Perhaps with pure string methods, the third slash separates the date and the text:
string line = "9/23/2013/marking abandoned based on notes below/DB";
int slashIndex = line.IndexOf('/');
if(slashIndex >= 0)
{
int slashCount = 1;
while(slashCount < 3 && slashIndex >= 0)
{
slashIndex = line.IndexOf('/', slashIndex + 1);
if(slashIndex >= 0) slashCount++;
}
if(slashCount == 3)
{
Console.WriteLine("Date:{0} Text: {1}"
, line.Substring(0, slashIndex)
, line.Substring(slashIndex +1));
}
}
For what it's worth, here is a extension method to "break" a string in half on nth occurence of astring:
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static string[] BreakOnNthIndexOf(this string input, string value, int breakOn, StringComparison comparison)
{
if (breakOn <= 0)
throw new ArgumentException("breakOn must be greater than 0", "breakOn");
if (value == null) value = " "; // fallback on white-space
int slashIndex = input.IndexOf(value, comparison);
if (slashIndex >= 0)
{
int slashCount = 1;
while (slashCount < breakOn && slashIndex >= 0)
{
slashIndex = input.IndexOf(value, slashIndex + value.Length, comparison);
if (slashIndex >= 0) slashCount++;
}
if (slashCount == breakOn)
{
return new[] {
input.Substring(0, slashIndex),
input.Substring(slashIndex + value.Length)
};
}
}
return new[]{ input };
}
}
Use it in this way:
string line1 = "9/23/2013/marking abandoned based on notes below/DB";
string line2 = "12/8/2012/I think the thid is string/SG";
string[] res1 = line1.BreakOnNthIndexOf("/", 3, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
string[] res2 = line2.BreakOnNthIndexOf("/", 3, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

Add separator to string at every N characters?

I have a string which contains binary digits. How to separate string after each 8 digit?
Suppose the string is:
string x = "111111110000000011111111000000001111111100000000";
I want to add a separator like ,(comma) after each 8 character.
output should be :
"11111111,00000000,11111111,00000000,11111111,00000000,"
Then I want to send it to a list<> last 8 char 1st then the previous 8 chars(excepting ,) and so on.
How can I do this?

Regex.Replace(myString, ".{8}", "$0,");
If you want an array of eight-character strings, then the following is probably easier:
Regex.Split(myString, "(?<=^(.{8})+)");
which will split the string only at points where a multiple of eight characters precede it.

Try this:
var s = "111111110000000011111111000000001111111100000000";
var list = Enumerable
.Range(0, s.Length/8)
.Select(i => s.Substring(i*8, 8));
var res = string.Join(",", list);

There's another Regex approach:
var str = "111111110000000011111111000000001111111100000000";
# for .NET 4
var res = String.Join(",",Regex.Matches(str, #"\d{8}").Cast<Match>());
# for .NET 3.5
var res = String.Join(",", Regex.Matches(str, #"\d{8}")
.OfType<Match>()
.Select(m => m.Value).ToArray());

...or old school:
public static List<string> splitter(string in, out string csv)
{
if (in.length % 8 != 0) throw new ArgumentException("in");
var lst = new List<string>(in/8);
for (int i=0; i < in.length / 8; i++) lst.Add(in.Substring(i*8,8));
csv = string.Join(",", lst); //This we want in input order (I believe)
lst.Reverse(); //As we want list in reverse order (I believe)
return lst;
}

Ugly but less garbage:
private string InsertStrings(string s, int insertEvery, char insert)
{
char[] ins = s.ToCharArray();
int length = s.Length + (s.Length / insertEvery);
if (ins.Length % insertEvery == 0)
{
length--;
}
var outs = new char[length];
long di = 0;
long si = 0;
while (si < s.Length - insertEvery)
{
Array.Copy(ins, si, outs, di, insertEvery);
si += insertEvery;
di += insertEvery;
outs[di] = insert;
di ++;
}
Array.Copy(ins, si, outs, di, ins.Length - si);
return new string(outs);
}
String overload:
private string InsertStrings(string s, int insertEvery, string insert)
{
char[] ins = s.ToCharArray();
char[] inserts = insert.ToCharArray();
int insertLength = inserts.Length;
int length = s.Length + (s.Length / insertEvery) * insert.Length;
if (ins.Length % insertEvery == 0)
{
length -= insert.Length;
}
var outs = new char[length];
long di = 0;
long si = 0;
while (si < s.Length - insertEvery)
{
Array.Copy(ins, si, outs, di, insertEvery);
si += insertEvery;
di += insertEvery;
Array.Copy(inserts, 0, outs, di, insertLength);
di += insertLength;
}
Array.Copy(ins, si, outs, di, ins.Length - si);
return new string(outs);
}

If I understand your last requirement correctly (it's not clear to me if you need the intermediate comma-delimited string or not), you could do this:
var enumerable = "111111110000000011111111000000001111111100000000".Batch(8).Reverse();
By utilizing morelinq.

Here my two little cents too. An implementation using StringBuilder:
public static string AddChunkSeparator (string str, int chunk_len, char separator)
{
if (str == null || str.Length < chunk_len) {
return str;
}
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
for (var index = 0; index < str.Length; index += chunk_len) {
builder.Append(str, index, chunk_len);
builder.Append(separator);
}
return builder.ToString();
}
You can call it like this:
string data = "111111110000000011111111000000001111111100000000";
string output = AddChunkSeparator(data, 8, ',');

One way using LINQ:
string data = "111111110000000011111111000000001111111100000000";
const int separateOnLength = 8;
string separated = new string(
data.Select((x,i) => i > 0 && i % separateOnLength == 0 ? new [] { ',', x } : new [] { x })
.SelectMany(x => x)
.ToArray()
);

I did it using Pattern & Matcher as following way:
fun addAnyCharacter(input: String, insertion: String, interval: Int): String {
val pattern = Pattern.compile("(.{$interval})", Pattern.DOTALL)
val matcher = pattern.matcher(input)
return matcher.replaceAll("$1$insertion")
}
Where:
input indicates Input string. Check results section.
insertion indicates Insert string between those characters. For example comma (,), start(*), hash(#).
interval indicates at which interval you want to add insertion character.
input indicates Input string. Check results section. Check results section; here I've added insertion at every 4th character.
Results:
I/P: 1234XXXXXXXX5678 O/P: 1234 XXXX XXXX 5678
I/P: 1234567812345678 O/P: 1234 5678 1234 5678
I/P: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP O/P: ABCD EFGH IJKL MNOP
Hope this helps.

As of .Net 6, you can simply use the IEnumerable.Chunk method (Which splits elements of a sequence into chunks) then reconcatenate the chunks using String.Join.
var text = "...";
string.Join(',', text.Chunk(size: 6).Select(x => new string(x)));

This is much faster without copying array (this version inserts space every 3 digits but you can adjust it to your needs)
public string GetString(double valueField)
{
char[] ins = valueField.ToString().ToCharArray();
int length = ins.Length + (ins.Length / 3);
if (ins.Length % 3 == 0)
{
length--;
}
char[] outs = new char[length];
int i = length - 1;
int j = ins.Length - 1;
int k = 0;
do
{
if (k == 3)
{
outs[i--] = ' ';
k = 0;
}
else
{
outs[i--] = ins[j--];
k++;
}
}
while (i >= 0);
return new string(outs);
}

For every 1 character, you could do this one-liner:
string.Join(".", "1234".ToArray()) //result: 1.2.3.4

If you intend to create your own function to acheive this without using regex or pattern matching methods, you can create a simple function like this:
String formatString(String key, String seperator, int afterEvery){
String formattedKey = "";
for(int i=0; i<key.length(); i++){
formattedKey += key.substring(i,i+1);
if((i+1)%afterEvery==0)
formattedKey += seperator;
}
if(formattedKey.endsWith("-"))
formattedKey = formattedKey.substring(0,formattedKey.length()-1);
return formattedKey;
}
Calling the mothod like this
formatString("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST", "-", 4)
Would result in the return string as this
ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP-QRST

A little late to the party, but here's a simplified LINQ expression to break an input string x into groups of n separated by another string sep:
string sep = ",";
int n = 8;
string result = String.Join(sep, x.InSetsOf(n).Select(g => new String(g.ToArray())));
A quick rundown of what's happening here:
x is being treated as an IEnumerable<char>, which is where the InSetsOf extension method comes in.
InSetsOf(n) groups characters into an IEnumerable of IEnumerable -- each entry in the outer grouping contains an inner group of n characters.
Inside the Select method, each group of n characters is turned back into a string by using the String() constructor that takes an array of chars.
The result of Select is now an IEnumerable<string>, which is passed into String.Join to interleave the sep string, just like any other example.

I am more than late with my answer but you can use this one:
static string PutLineBreak(string str, int split)
{
for (int a = 1; a <= str.Length; a++)
{
if (a % split == 0)
str = str.Insert(a, "\n");
}
return str;
}

C# third index of a character in a string

is there a command that can get the third index of a character in a string? For example:
error: file.ext: line 10: invalid command [test:)]
In the above sentence, I want to the index of the 3rd colon, the one next to the 10. How could I do that? I know of string.IndexOf and string.LastIndexOf, but in this case I want to get the index of a character when it is used the third time.

String.IndexOf will get you the index of the first, but has overloads giving a starting point. So you can use a the result of the first IndexOf plus one as the starting point for the next. And then just accumulate indexes a sufficient number of times:
var offset = myString.IndexOf(':');
offset = myString.IndexOf(':', offset+1);
var result = myString.IndexOf(':', offset+1);
Add error handling unless you know that myString contains at least three colons.

You could write something like:
public static int CustomIndexOf(this string source, char toFind, int position)
{
int index = -1;
for (int i = 0; i < position; i++)
{
index = source.IndexOf(toFind, index + 1);
if (index == -1)
break;
}
return index;
}
EDIT: Obviously you have to use it as follows:
int colonPosition = myString.CustomIndexOf(',', 3);

I am guessing you want to parse that string into different parts.
public static void Main() {
var input = #"error: file.ext: line 10: invalid command [test (: ]";
var splitted = input .Split(separator: new[] {": "}, count: 4, options: StringSplitOptions.None);
var severity = splitted[0]; // "error"
var filename = splitted[1]; // "file.ext"
var line = splitted[2]; // "line 10"
var message = splitted[3]; // "invalid command [test (: ]"
}

This has already been answered several very good ways - but I decided to try and write it using Expressions.
private int? GetNthOccurrance(string inputString, char charToFind, int occurranceToFind)
{
int totalOccurrances = inputString.ToCharArray().Count(c => c == charToFind);
if (totalOccurrances < occurranceToFind || occurranceToFind <= 0)
{
return null;
}
var charIndex =
Enumerable.Range(0, inputString.Length - 1)
.Select(r => new { Position = r, Char = inputString[r], Count = 1 })
.Where(r => r.Char == charToFind);
return charIndex
.Select(c => new
{
c.Position,
c.Char,
Count = charIndex.Count(c2 => c2.Position <= c.Position)
})
.Where(r => r.Count == occurranceToFind)
.Select(r => r.Position)
.First();
}
and Tests to prove it too:
Assert.AreEqual(0, GetNthOccurrance(input, 'h', 1));
Assert.AreEqual(3, GetNthOccurrance(input, 'l', 2));
Assert.IsNull(GetNthOccurrance(input, 'z', 1));
Assert.IsNull(GetNthOccurrance(input, 'h', 10));

You can call .IndexOf(char, position) to search from desired position, thus you should call it 3 times (but, after each call you should also check if something is found).

int pos = -1;
for ( int k = 0; k < 3; ++k )
{
pos = s.indexOf( ':', pos+1 );
// Check if pos < 0...
}

A little ugly, but an alternative approach (to the others already posted) that works:
public int FindThirdColonIndex(string msg)
{
for (int i = 0, colonCount = 0; i < msg.Length; i++)
{
if (msg[i] == ':' && ++colonCount == 3) { return i; }
}
// Not found
return -1;
}

Here is a recursive implementation (for string not char) - as an extension method, mimicing the format of the framework method(s).
All you need to do is change 'string value' to 'char value' in the extension method and update the tests accordingly and it will work... I'm happy to do that and post it if anyone is interested?
public static int IndexOfNth(
this string input, string value, int startIndex, int nth)
{
if (nth < 1)
throw new NotSupportedException("Param 'nth' must be greater than 0!");
if (nth == 1)
input.IndexOf(value, startIndex);
return
input.IndexOfNth(value, input.IndexOf(value, startIndex) + 1, --nth);
}
Also, here are some (MBUnit) unit tests that might help you (to prove it is correct):
[Test]
public void TestIndexOfNthWorksForNth1()
{
const string input = "foo<br />bar<br />baz<br />";
Assert.AreEqual(3, input.IndexOfNth("<br />", 0, 1));
}
[Test]
public void TestIndexOfNthWorksForNth2()
{
const string input = "foo<br />whatthedeuce<br />kthxbai<br />";
Assert.AreEqual(21, input.IndexOfNth("<br />", 0, 2));
}
[Test]
public void TestIndexOfNthWorksForNth3()
{
const string input = "foo<br />whatthedeuce<br />kthxbai<br />";
Assert.AreEqual(34, input.IndexOfNth("<br />", 0, 3));
}

Please see this answer on a similar question:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/46460083/7673306
It provides a method for you to find the index of nth occurrence of a specific character within a designated string.
In your specific case it would be implemented like so:
int index = IndexOfNthCharacter("error: file.ext: line 10: invalid command [test:)]", 3, ':');

Simply split the string by the char.
This gives you an array that you can then use to target what you want.
var stringToSplit = "one_two_three_four";
var splitString = stringToSplit.Split("_");
if (splitString.length > 3){
var newString = $"{splitResult[0]}_{splitResult[1]}_{splitResult[2]}";
}

How to make next step of a string. C#

The question is complicated but I will explain it in details.
The goal is to make a function which will return next "step" of the given string.
For example
String.Step("a"); // = "b"
String.Step("b"); // = "c"
String.Step("g"); // = "h"
String.Step("z"); // = "A"
String.Step("A"); // = "B"
String.Step("B"); // = "C"
String.Step("G"); // = "H"
Until here its quite easy, But taking in mind that input IS string it can contain more than 1 characters and the function must behave like this.
String.Step("Z"); // = "aa";
String.Step("aa"); // = "ab";
String.Step("ag"); // = "ah";
String.Step("az"); // = "aA";
String.Step("aA"); // = "aB";
String.Step("aZ"); // = "ba";
String.Step("ZZ"); // = "aaa";
and so on...
This doesn't exactly need to extend the base String class.
I tried to work it out by each characters ASCII values but got stuck with strings containing 2 characters.
I would really appreciate if someone can provide full code of the function.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT
*I'm sorry I forgot to mention earlier that the function "reparse" the self generated string when its length reaches n.
continuation of this function will be smth like this. for example n = 3
String.Step("aaa"); // = "aab";
String.Step("aaZ"); // = "aba";
String.Step("aba"); // = "abb";
String.Step("abb"); // = "abc";
String.Step("abZ"); // = "aca";
.....
String.Step("zzZ"); // = "zAa";
String.Step("zAa"); // = "zAb";
........
I'm sorry I didn't mention it earlier, after reading some answers I realised that the problem was in question.
Without this the function will always produce character "a" n times after the end of the step.

NOTE: This answer is incorrect, as "aa" should follow after "Z"... (see comments below)
Here is an algorithm that might work:
each "string" represents a number to a given base (here: twice the count of letters in the alphabet).
The next step can thus be computed by parsing the "number"-string back into a int, adding 1 and then formatting it back to the base.
Example:
"a" == 1 -> step("a") == step(1) == 1 + 1 == 2 == "b"
Now your problem is reduced to parsing the string as a number to a given base and reformatting it. A quick googling suggests this page: http://everything2.com/title/convert+any+number+to+decimal
How to implement this?
a lookup table for letters to their corresponding number: a=1, b=2, c=3, ... Y = ?, Z = 0
to parse a string to number, read the characters in reverse order, looking up the numbers and adding them up:
"ab" -> 2*BASE^0 + 1*BASE^1
with BASE being the number of "digits" (2 count of letters in alphabet, is that 48?)
EDIT: This link looks even more promising: http://www.citidel.org/bitstream/10117/20/12/convexp.html

Quite collection of approaches, here is mine:-
The Function:
private static string IncrementString(string s)
{
byte[] vals = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s);
for (var i = vals.Length - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
if (vals[i] < 90)
{
vals[i] += 1;
break;
}
if (vals[i] == 90)
{
if (i != 0)
{
vals[i] = 97;
continue;
}
else
{
return new String('a', vals.Length + 1);
}
}
if (vals[i] < 122)
{
vals[i] += 1;
break;
}
vals[i] = 65;
break;
}
return System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(vals);
}
The Tests
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("a") == "b");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("z") == "A");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("Z") == "aa");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("aa") == "ab");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("az") == "aA");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("aZ") == "ba");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("zZ") == "Aa");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("Za") == "Zb");
Console.WriteLine(IncrementString("ZZ") == "aaa");

public static class StringStep
{
public static string Next(string str)
{
string result = String.Empty;
int index = str.Length - 1;
bool carry;
do
{
result = Increment(str[index--], out carry) + result;
}
while (carry && index >= 0);
if (index >= 0) result = str.Substring(0, index+1) + result;
if (carry) result = "a" + result;
return result;
}
private static char Increment(char value, out bool carry)
{
carry = false;
if (value >= 'a' && value < 'z' || value >= 'A' && value < 'Z')
{
return (char)((int)value + 1);
}
if (value == 'z') return 'A';
if (value == 'Z')
{
carry = true;
return 'a';
}
throw new Exception(String.Format("Invalid character value: {0}", value));
}
}

Split the input string into columns and process each, right-to-left, like you would if it was basic arithmetic. Apply whatever code you've got that works with a single column to each column. When you get a Z, you 'increment' the next-left column using the same algorithm. If there's no next-left column, stick in an 'a'.

I'm sorry the question is stated partly.
I edited the question so that it meets the requirements, without the edit the function would end up with a n times by step by step increasing each word from lowercase a to uppercase z without "re-parsing" it.
Please consider re-reading the question, including the edited part

This is what I came up with. I'm not relying on ASCII int conversion, and am rather using an array of characters. This should do precisely what you're looking for.
public static string Step(this string s)
{
char[] stepChars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ".ToCharArray();
char[] str = s.ToCharArray();
int idx = s.Length - 1;
char lastChar = str[idx];
for (int i=0; i<stepChars.Length; i++)
{
if (stepChars[i] == lastChar)
{
if (i == stepChars.Length - 1)
{
str[idx] = stepChars[0];
if (str.Length > 1)
{
string tmp = Step(new string(str.Take(str.Length - 1).ToArray()));
str = (tmp + str[idx]).ToCharArray();
}
else
str = new char[] { stepChars[0], str[idx] };
}
else
str[idx] = stepChars[i + 1];
break;
}
}
return new string(str);
}

This is a special case of a numeral system. It has the base of 52. If you write some parser and output logic you can do any kind of arithmetics an obviously the +1 (++) here.
The digits are "a"-"z" and "A" to "Z" where "a" is zero and "Z" is 51
So you have to write a parser who takes the string and builds an int or long from it. This function is called StringToInt() and is implemented straight forward (transform char to number (0..51) multiply with 52 and take the next char)
And you need the reverse function IntToString which is also implementet straight forward (modulo the int with 52 and transform result to digit, divide the int by 52 and repeat this until int is null)
With this functions you can do stuff like this:
IntToString( StringToInt("ZZ") +1 ) // Will be "aaa"

You need to account for A) the fact that capital letters have a lower decimal value in the Ascii table than lower case ones. B) The table is not continuous A-Z-a-z - there are characters inbetween Z and a.
public static string stepChar(string str)
{
return stepChar(str, str.Length - 1);
}
public static string stepChar(string str, int charPos)
{
return stepChar(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(str), charPos);
}
public static string stepChar(byte[] strBytes, int charPos)
{
//Escape case
if (charPos < 0)
{
//just prepend with a and return
return "a" + Encoding.ASCII.GetString(strBytes);
}
else
{
strBytes[charPos]++;
if (strBytes[charPos] == 91)
{
//Z -> a plus increment previous char
strBytes[charPos] = 97;
return stepChar(strBytes, charPos - 1); }
else
{
if (strBytes[charPos] == 123)
{
//z -> A
strBytes[charPos] = 65;
}
return Encoding.ASCII.GetString(strBytes);
}
}
}
You'll probably want some checking in place to ensure that the input string only contains chars A-Za-z
Edit Tidied up code and added new overload to remove redundant byte[] -> string -> byte[] conversion
Proof http://geekcubed.org/random/strIncr.png

This is a lot like how Excel columns would work if they were unbounded. You could change 52 to reference chars.Length for easier modification.
static class AlphaInt {
private static string chars =
"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
public static string StepNext(string input) {
return IntToAlpha(AlphaToInt(input) + 1);
}
public static string IntToAlpha(int num) {
if(num-- <= 0) return "a";
if(num % 52 == num) return chars.Substring(num, 1);
return IntToAlpha(num / 52) + IntToAlpha(num % 52 + 1);
}
public static int AlphaToInt(string str) {
int num = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < str.Length; i++) {
num += (chars.IndexOf(str.Substring(i, 1)) + 1)
* (int)Math.Pow(52, str.Length - i - 1);
}
return num;
}
}

LetterToNum should be be a Function that maps "a" to 0 and "Z" to 51.
NumToLetter the inverse.
long x = "aazeiZa".Aggregate((x,y) => (x*52) + LetterToNum(y)) + 1;
string s = "";
do { // assertion: x > 0
var c = x % 52;
s = NumToLetter() + s;
x = (x - c) / 52;
} while (x > 0)
// s now should contain the result