Conditional Split String with multiple delimiters

Question

I have a String

string astring="#This is a Section*This is the first category*This is the
second Category# This is another Section";

I want to separate this string according to delimiters. If I have # at the start this will indicate Section string (string[] section). If the string will starts with * this will indicate that I have a category(string[] category). As a result I want to have

string[] section = { "This is a Section", "This is another Section" }; 
string[] category = { "This is the first category ",
     "This is the second Category " };

I have found this answer: string.split - by multiple character delimiter But it is not what I am trying to do.

Looks like a job for a regular expression to me, using capturing groups that should be a walk in the park — Simon Rapilly, Aug 06 '13 at 10:11
@SimonRapilly You don't even need capturing groups. Matches are enough. — It'sNotALie., Aug 06 '13 at 10:15
True enough, if you have two regexs like in your answer, but if you want a single regex then you will need capturing groups — Simon Rapilly, Aug 06 '13 at 10:21

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 06 '13 at 10:21

2

string astring=@"#This is a Section*This is the first category*This is the second Category# This is another Section";

string[] sections = Regex.Matches(astring, @"#([^\*#]*)").Cast<Match>()
    .Select(m => m.Groups[1].Value).ToArray();
string[] categories = Regex.Matches(astring, @"\*([^\*#]*)").Cast<Match>()
    .Select(m => m.Groups[1].Value).ToArray();

answered Aug 06 '13 at 10:21

Eren Ersönmez

38,383
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Thak you for the great solution – focus Aug 06 '13 at 10:50

lordkain · Answer 2 · 2013-08-06T12:17:45.770

0

With string.Split You could do this (faster than the regex ;) )

List<string> sectionsResult = new List<string>();
List<string> categorysResult = new List<string>();
string astring="#This is a Section*This is the first category*This is thesecond Category# This is another Section";

var sections = astring.Split('#').Where(i=> !String.IsNullOrEmpty(i));

foreach (var section in sections)
{
    var sectieandcategorys =  section.Split('*');
    sectionsResult.Add(sectieandcategorys.First());
    categorysResult.AddRange(sectieandcategorys.Skip(1));
}

edited Aug 06 '13 at 12:17

answered Aug 06 '13 at 10:21

lordkain

3,061
1
13
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I take an error "string does not contain a definition for split" – focus Aug 06 '13 at 10:40

Conditional Split String with multiple delimiters

2 Answers2