how to parse this comma delimited string?

Question

I have the following string:

"'2014' , '381' , '1' , 'Eastern 10' , 'Wes 10' , '1'"

I would like to join Position 1 and 2 together and save it back in position 1, for example:

"'2014381' , '381' , '1' , 'Eastern 10' , 'Wes 10' , '1'"

Answer 1

Use String.Split and the String.Join:

string text = "'2014' , '381' , '1' , 'Eastern 10' , 'Wes 10' , '1'";
string[] words = text.Split(new[] { "' , '" }, StringSplitOptions.None);
string result = string.Join("", words.Take(2)) + 
                string.Join("' , '", words);

Demo

Answer 2

var str = "'2014' , '381' , '1' , 'Eastern 10' , 'Wes 10' , '1'";
var parts = str.Split(new string[] { " , " }, StringSplitOptions.None);

parts[0] = String.Format("'{0}{1}'", parts[0].Replace("'", ""),
                                     parts[1].Replace("'", ""));
str = String.Join(" , ", parts);

Answer 3

Using the replaceFirst function noted in this question:

How do I replace the *first instance* of a string in .NET?

string ReplaceFirst(string text, string search, string replace)
{
  int pos = text.IndexOf(search);
  if (pos < 0)
  {
    return text;
  }
  return text.Substring(0, pos) + replace + text.Substring(pos + search.Length);
}

You could then do:

string updated = ReplaceFirst(original, "' , '", "");

Answer 4

var input = "'2014' , '381' , '1' , 'Eastern 10' , 'Wes 10' , '1'";
var delimeter = " , ";

var splits = input.Split(',').Select (i => i.Trim());
var result = splits.Take(2).Aggregate ((x, y) => x + y).Replace("''", "") 
    + delimeter + splits.Skip(1).Aggregate ((x, y) => x + delimeter + y);

Output:

'2014381' , '381' , '1' , 'Eastern 10' , 'Wes 10' , '1'