Find a particular string in an string array

Question

I am trying like this:

int Quantity = Array.FindIndex(lineValues, x => x.Equals("Order 1 QTY"));

It is passing for the same string. But I want it to get passed even if there are no spaces between the string.

I want it to get passed with both the string:

"Order 1 QTY"
"Order1QTY"

I want to check for just string excluding spaces.

Maybe with the help of [Regular Expressions](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18701992/regex-space-or-no-space)? — Uwe Keim, Oct 13 '14 at 11:56
possible duplicate of [C# string comparison ignoring spaces, carriage return or line breaks](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4718965/c-sharp-string-comparison-ignoring-spaces-carriage-return-or-line-breaks) — Michal Hosala, Oct 13 '14 at 11:58
Then You will have to buffer the String in another tmp variable, delete the blanks of it and then search again with a search pattern also without blanks. — icbytes, Oct 13 '14 at 11:58

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 13 '14 at 11:57

3

You can do:

string y = "Order 1 QTY";
int Quantity = Array.FindIndex(lineValues, x => x.Equals(y) || x.Equals(y.Replace(" ","")));

answered Oct 13 '14 at 11:57

fatihk

Probably he also meant to have all permutations of "zero or one blanks"? – Uwe Keim Oct 13 '14 at 11:58
I just want the string character excluding white spaces in between . – user3913587 Oct 13 '14 at 12:00
@MichaelPerrenoud: `var lineValues = new string[] { " Order 1 QTY ", " Order 1QTY" };` returns `-1` here, while I expected `2`. – Patrick Hofman Oct 13 '14 at 12:01
@PatrickHofman, yes if the strings were that disparate you'd get some weird results. – Mike Perrenoud Oct 13 '14 at 12:04

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '14 at 12:03

One approach would be to use a regular expression:

var regex = string.Format("Order\s*{0}\s*QTY", 1);
int Quantity = Array.FindIndex(lineValues, x => Regex.Matches(x, regex));

The regular expression I'd use would be something like this:

Order\s*1\s*QTY

Regular expression visualization

Ian · Answer 3 · 2014-10-13T12:12:00.543

0

Alternatively, remove all the whitespace from your test string, then compare that to "Order1Qty".

int Quantity = Array.FindIndex(lineValues, 
    x => x.Replace(" ", "").Equals("Order1QTY"));

edited Oct 13 '14 at 12:12

answered Oct 13 '14 at 12:05

Ian

3 Answers3