.NET Regex expression to parse list of numbers and number ranges

Question

I have the need to parse a comma separated list of numbers and number ranges. The strings are entered into a UI by the user and will look something like one of these (six different samples inputs):

1-3, 5, 7-10
1
21.1
1.2-3,5.1,7-10.1
1-3, 5.1, 7-10, 21
1.1-3.1,5.1,7.1-10.1

My end goal is have a collection of number and number ranges that I can process later downstream. For example, after parsing the first string sample above my end result would be a collection that contains 3 elements: 1-3, 5 and 7-10.

Using C# and a .NET Regex this pattern nicely fills the Matches collection with just the items I need (Note the use of non-capturing groups):

(\d+(?:\.\d+)?-\d+(?:\.\d+)?)|(\d+(?:\.\d+)?)

I have two questions though:

1. Do I need all of that in my pattern, or is there a more brief pattern possible?

2. Is there something I can add to the pattern to return 0 matches when there are invalid characters contained in the string? For example if I include an alpha character in the string anywhere I would want no matches to occur. Right now I do this with two passes, one to validate that the string only has valid characters [\d,.- ], and another pass to get the matches assuming it validated in the first pass.

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Update:

Here's the solution I ended up going with (see @Xiaoy312 answer):

public static IEnumerable<DataRange> ParseInput(string input)
{
    if (!Regex.IsMatch(input.Replace(" ", string.Empty), @"^[\d\.,\-]+$"))
        return Enumerable.Empty<DataRange>();

    return Regex.Matches(input.Replace(" ", string.Empty), 
        @"(?<A>\d+(?:\.\d+)?)(?:-(?<B>\d+(?:\.\d+)?))?").Cast<Match>()
        .Select(m => new DataRange
        {
            A = double.Parse(m.Groups["A"].Value,
                 System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture),
            B = m.Groups["B"].Success ? double.Parse(m.Groups["B"].Value, 
                 System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) : (double?)null
        });

}

public class DataRange
{
    public double A;
    public double? B;
}

Here's sample usage:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine("A\tB");
    var items = ParseInput("1");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
    items = ParseInput("21.1");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
    items = ParseInput("1-3,5,7-10");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
    items = ParseInput("1.2-3,5.1,7-10.1");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
    items = ParseInput("1-3, 5.1,  7-10,21");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
    items = ParseInput("1.1-3.1,5.1,7.1-10.1");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
    items = ParseInput("1.1-3.1,5.1,7.1-10.1a");
    Array.ForEach(items.ToArray(), i => Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}", i.A, i.B));
}

Sample output:

A       B
1
21.1
1       3
5
7       10
1.2     3
5.1
7       10.1
1       3
5.1
7       10
21
1.1     3.1
5.1
7.1     10.1

Answer 1

First rushed attempt at it :

public IEnumerable<object> ParseInput(string input)
{
    return Regex.Matches(input.Replace(" ", string.Empty), @"(?<A>\d+(\.\d+)?)(-(?<B>\d+(\.\d+)?))?").Cast<Match>()
        .Select(m => new
        { 
            A = m.Groups["A"].Value,  
            B = m.Groups["B"].Value
        });
}

Fixed :

public IEnumerable<DataRange> ParseInput(string input)
{
    if (!Regex.IsMatch(input.Replace(Environment.NewLine, string.Empty), @"^[\d\.,\- ]+$"))
        return Enumerable.Empty<object>();

    return input
        .Replace(" ", string.Empty)
        .Split(new[] { Environment.NewLine, "," }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
        .Select(x => Regex.Match(x, @"(?<A>\d+(\.\d+)?)(-(?<B>\d+(\.\d+)?))?"))
        .Select(m => new DataRange
        {
            A = double.Parse(m.Groups["A"].Value, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture),
            B = m.Groups["B"].Success ? double.Parse(m.Groups["B"].Value, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) : (double?)null
        });
}

public class DataRange
{
    public double A;
    public double? B;
}

Input :

    const string SampleInput = 
    @"1-3, 5, 7-10, 
1
21.1
1.2-3,5.1,7-10.1
1-3, 5.1, 7-10, 21
1.1-3.1,5.1,7.1-10.1";

Output :

A B
1 3 
5 null 
7 10 
1 null 
21,1 null 
1,2 3 
5,1 null 
7 10,1 
1 3 
5,1 null 
7 10 
21 null 
1,1 3,1 
5,1 null 
7,1 10,1