replacing a placeholder tag in a string

Question

I am making a mail program where I would like to replace **NAME** with the name of the reciepient. I already tried this:

string mail = "hello **NAME**, how are you doing?";
mail.Replace("**NAME**", Reciepient.Name);

but it isn't working and just leaves the string untouched.

does anyone have any ideas?

Yes `**` is the bold delimiter in Markdown. Learn more: https://stackoverflow.com/editing-help — aloisdg, Sep 03 '18 at 14:05
Although it's not my downvotes, please check for duplicates before you answer. In this case, it's so obvious that there *must* be a duplicate around. The correct action is to close-vote (or flag) as duplicate, *not* to replicate the same answer across many many questions. — nvoigt, Sep 03 '18 at 14:10
I wonder how people are still posting answers if this has already been locked as duplicate... — Adrian, Sep 03 '18 at 14:10

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '18 at 14:07

0

Replace() returns the string modified. You have to assigned it to mail or to a new variable.

string mail = "hello **NAME**, how are you doing?";
mail = mail.Replace("**NAME**", Reciepient.Name);

answered Sep 03 '18 at 14:07

aloisdg

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yes, this is it! thank you so much, can mark it as answer in 8 minutes – TDM Sep 03 '18 at 14:10

Saif · Answer 2 · 2018-09-03T14:15:43.983

-1

use regex

    string mail = "hello **NAME**, how are you doing?";
    string pattern = @"\bNAME\b";
    string replace =  Reciepient.Name;
    string result = Regex.Replace(mail, pattern, replace);
    Console.WriteLine(result);

result : hello **test**, how are you doing?

edited Sep 03 '18 at 14:15

answered Sep 03 '18 at 14:09

Saif

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This is not what was asked. – Adrian Sep 03 '18 at 14:11
Counter example: `"Keep this - NAME - change that **NAME**"`: 1st `NAME` should be preserved intact; `string pattern = @"\*\*NAME\*\*";` – Dmitry Bychenko Sep 03 '18 at 14:12
the stars can maintain the same and just replace the word `NAME` .. as I can see from his comment that he just wants to replace the `name` by the new value – Saif Sep 03 '18 at 14:18
just wondering why got downvote! – Saif Sep 03 '18 at 14:19
The downvote is because the question reads: `I would like to replace **NAME** with the name of the reciepient`... not "How do I replace the string between the tags". – Adrian Sep 03 '18 at 14:19
but this line `string replace = Reciepient.Name;` already shows how to replace so is that not answering the question! – Saif Sep 03 '18 at 14:22
No? This line shows how to assign a string value of `Name` to another variable `replace`... clearly OPs problem is that he did not reassign the string back to the variable.... – Adrian Sep 03 '18 at 14:23

replacing a placeholder tag in a string

2 Answers2