Decode special characters from json data in c#

Question

I am getting data in json format from a url. Everything is working perfect, but one small issue is that in the data that I am getting there are some special characters, for example :

Get 50% off on Pizzas between 11am &ndash; 5pm.

&ndash; here means that it is '-', but how can I decode it in c# so that it takes it as '-'.

I have tried using Html.decode method, it is working fine with URLs but not with data.

I cannot replace &ndash; with '-' everywhere because this is not a single case, there are other similar characters too.

There is no Html.Decode do you mean WebUitity or HttpUtility? — RvdK, Feb 18 '16 at 09:13
WebUtility/HttpUtility.decode works regardless of what kind of string it is (url of other). — RvdK, Feb 18 '16 at 09:18

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 18 '16 at 09:17

2

Works fine:

https://dotnetfiddle.net/H9rpLe

using System;

public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string data = System.Net.WebUtility.HtmlDecode("Get 50% off on Pizzas between 11am &amp;ndash; 5pm"); 

        Console.WriteLine(data);
    }
}

Output: Get 50% off on Pizzas between 11am – 5pm

answered Feb 18 '16 at 09:17

RvdK

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You are correct it works, but just to let you know your fiddle uses `–`, not `&ndash` - it will work in both cases though :-) – RB. Feb 18 '16 at 09:19
1

dotnetfiddle is broken in this: https://dotnetfiddle.net/1TA9GU - my original code was `WriteLine("a – b");` – Wapac Feb 18 '16 at 09:21
@RB. Weird, I copied paste if from the fiddle, where it showed correctly (with amp)... – RvdK Feb 18 '16 at 09:42
Sounds like Wapac has found the culprit - interesting :) – RB. Feb 18 '16 at 09:46
Thank you all for this information, The issue is solved. Thanks a lot. – Alok Gupta Feb 18 '16 at 17:48

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

1

I think this is a duplicate of this question.

You can use HttpUtility.HtmlDecode

If you are using .NET 4.0+ you can also use WebUtility.HtmlDecode which does not require an extra assembly reference as it is available in the System.Net namespace.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Feb 18 '16 at 09:15

Ilya Chernomordik

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 18 '16 at 09:20

Try decoding it twice as it seems you have it encoded twice. First decoding will convert &ndash; to –, then second decoding will make it –.

using System;
using System.Web;

public class Test
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string s = "Get 50% off on Pizzas between 11am &amp;ndash; 5pm.";
        Console.WriteLine(s);

        string d = HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(s);
        Console.WriteLine(d);

        string e = HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(d);
        Console.WriteLine(e);
    }
}

Decode special characters from json data in c#

3 Answers3