handle Illegal characters exception

Question

Suppose I have:

srting s="C:\\someIllegalChars\\בלה.xlsx";
FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(s);

This gives:

Illegal characters in path. :::  ::: System.ArgumentException: Illegal characters in path.
   at System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission.EmulateFileIOPermissionChecks(String fullPath)
   at System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission.QuickDemand(FileIOPermissionAccess access, String fullPath, Boolean checkForDuplicates, Boolean needFullPath)
   at System.IO.FileInfo.Init(String fileName, Boolean checkHost)
   at ...

I need a function that will fix this type of Illegal strings, something like:

string Fixer(string){
return fixed string;
}

Answer 1

File name can not contain characters from Path.GetInvalidPathChars(), + and # symbols, and other specific names. We combined all checks into one class:

public static class FileNameExtensions
{
    private static readonly Lazy<string[]> InvalidFileNameChars =
        new Lazy<string[]>(() => Path.GetInvalidPathChars()
            .Union(Path.GetInvalidFileNameChars()
            .Union(new[] { '+', '#' })).Select(c => c.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)).ToArray());


    private static readonly HashSet<string> ProhibitedNames = new HashSet<string>
    {
        @"aux",
        @"con",
        @"clock$",
        @"nul",
        @"prn",

        @"com1",
        @"com2",
        @"com3",
        @"com4",
        @"com5",
        @"com6",
        @"com7",
        @"com8",
        @"com9",

        @"lpt1",
        @"lpt2",
        @"lpt3",
        @"lpt4",
        @"lpt5",
        @"lpt6",
        @"lpt7",
        @"lpt8",
        @"lpt9"
    };

    public static bool IsValidFileName(string fileName)
    {
        return !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fileName)
            && fileName.All(o => !IsInvalidFileNameChar(o))
            && !IsProhibitedName(fileName);
    }

    public static bool IsProhibitedName(string fileName)
    {
        return ProhibitedNames.Contains(fileName.ToLower(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
    }

    private static string ReplaceInvalidFileNameSymbols([CanBeNull] this string value, string replacementValue)
    {
        if (value == null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        return InvalidFileNameChars.Value.Aggregate(new StringBuilder(value),
            (sb, currentChar) => sb.Replace(currentChar, replacementValue)).ToString();
    }

    public static bool IsInvalidFileNameChar(char value)
    {
        return InvalidFileNameChars.Value.Contains(value.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
    }

    public static string GetValidFileName([NotNull] this string value)
    {
        return GetValidFileName(value, @"_");
    }

    public static string GetValidFileName([NotNull] this string value, string replacementValue)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value))
        {
            throw new ArgumentException(@"value should be non empty", nameof(value));
        }

        if (IsProhibitedName(value))
        {
            return (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(replacementValue) ? @"_" : replacementValue) + value; 
        }

        return ReplaceInvalidFileNameSymbols(value, replacementValue);
    }

    public static string GetFileNameError(string fileName)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fileName))
        {
            return CommonResources.SelectReportNameError;
        }

        if (IsProhibitedName(fileName))
        {
            return CommonResources.FileNameIsProhibited;
        }

        var invalidChars = fileName.Where(IsInvalidFileNameChar).Distinct().ToArray();

        if(invalidChars.Length > 0)
        {
            return string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
                invalidChars.Length == 1 ? CommonResources.InvalidCharacter : CommonResources.InvalidCharacters,
                StringExtensions.JoinQuoted(@",", @"'", invalidChars.Select(c => c.ToString(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture))));
        }

        return string.Empty;
    }
}

It checks invalid path characters, some prohibited file names.

Method GetValidFileName replaces all incorrect data to _.