C# Get string between two characters in a string

Question

I have a string like below:

{{"textA","textB","textC"}}

And currently, I'm using below code to split them:

string stringIWantToSplit = "{{\"textA\",\"textB\",\"textC\"}}";
string[] result = stringIWantToSplit.Split(',');

And I can get the below result:

{{"textA"
"textB"
"textC"}}

After that, I can manually trim out the '{' and '}' to get the final result, but here is the problem:

If the string is like below:

   `{{"textA","textB,textD","textC"}}`

Then the result will be different from Expected result

Expected result:

  "textA" 
  "textB,textD"
  "textC"

Actual result:

{{"textA" "textB textD" "textC"}}

How can I get the string between two double quotes?

Updated:

Just now when I checked the data, I found that some of them contains decimals i.e.

{{"textA","textB","",0,9.384,"textC"}}

Currently, I'm trying to use Jenish Rabadiya's approach, and the regex I'm using is

(["'])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1

but with this regex, the numbers aren't selected, how to modify it so that the numbers / decimal can be selected?

Looks related to this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21342949/how-can-i-split-a-string-while-ignore-commas-in-between-quotes?rq=1 — Adrian Hofman, Feb 05 '15 at 04:48
Stop rolling your own CSV Parser http://secretgeek.net/csv_trouble — Erik Funkenbusch, Feb 05 '15 at 04:57
@ErikFunkenbusch I'm not trying to parse a csv file, actually, I'm trying to parse a string in above format which is saved from database. — User2012384, Feb 05 '15 at 06:39

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 05 '15 at 04:59

3

Try using regex like following.

Regex regex = new Regex(@"([""'])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1");
foreach (var match in regex.Matches("{{\"textA\",\"textB\",\"textC\"}}"))
{
    Console.WriteLine(match);
}

Here is working dotnet fiddle => Link

answered Feb 05 '15 at 04:59

Jenish Rabadiya

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I'm trying to use your approach, but when I revised the data, there are some numbers, how can I change the regex so that the numbers can be selected?(Please take a look at my update) – User2012384 Feb 05 '15 at 06:34

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 05 '15 at 04:54

2

Assuming your string will always look like your examples, you can use a simple regular expression to get your strings out:

string s = "{{\"textA\",\"textB,textD\",\"textC\"}}";

foreach (Match m in Regex.Matches(s, "\\\".*?\\\""))
{
    //do stuff
}

answered Feb 05 '15 at 04:54

vesan

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 05 '15 at 04:45

I think this will help you,

List<string> specialChars = new List<string>() {",", "{{","}}" };
string stringIWantToSplit = "{{\"textA\",\"textB,textD\",\"textC\"}}";
string[] result = stringIWantToSplit.Split(new char[] {'"'}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
            .Where(text => !specialChars.Contains(text)).ToArray();

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 05 '15 at 04:52

1

Using this regex makes simple:

text = Regex.Replace(text, @"^[\s,]+|[\s,]+$", "");

edited Feb 05 '15 at 04:52

senthilkumar2185

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answered Feb 05 '15 at 04:47

vignesh

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 05 '15 at 07:02

0

I finally modified the regex to this:

(["'])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1|(\d*\.?\d*)[^"' {},]

And this finally works:

Sample:

https://dotnetfiddle.net/vg4jUh

answered Feb 05 '15 at 07:02

User2012384

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C# Get string between two characters in a string

5 Answers5