Split a string by another string except by

Question

I want to split with Regex this line using the separator : except when the segment contains ?:

string input = "AV Rocket 456:Contact?:Jane or Tarza:URL?:http?://www.jane.com:Delivered 18?:15:Product Description";

I tried with

string pattern = @"[^\?:]\:";

But the last char at all elements are cutted,

I am waiting for this result:

'AV Rocket 456'
'CONTACT?:JANE OR TARZAN'
'URL?:http?://www.jane.com'
'Time Delivered 18?:15'
'Product Description'

https://dotnetfiddle.net/PeVuMM

You mean you need output like "AV Rocket 456:" ? – Dharmeshsharma Nov 16 '19 at 09:55 — Dharmeshsharma, Nov 16 '19 at 09:55
`string pattern = @"(?<!\?):";` – Alexander Petrov Nov 16 '19 at 09:57 — Alexander Petrov, Nov 16 '19 at 09:57
@AlexanderPetrov: Make this comment an answer. – Toto Nov 16 '19 at 12:56 — Toto, Nov 16 '19 at 12:56

Andi Pexton · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-16T13:41:26.017

If I have understood your question, the below sample will give the intended output :)

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using Xunit;

namespace XUnitTestProject1
{
    public class UnitTest1
    {
        [Fact]
        public void TestPatternSplit()
        {

            var input = @"AV Rocket 456:Contact?:Jane or Tarzan:URL?:http?://www.jane.com:Time Delivered 18?:15:Product Description";

            var output = PatternSplit(input);

            var expected = new[]{"AV Rocket 456", "Contact?:Jane or Tarzan", "URL?:http?://www.jane.com","Time Delivered 18?:15","Product Description"};

            Assert.Equal(expected, output);

        }

        private static IEnumerable<string> PatternSplit(string input)
        {
            const string  pattern = @"(?<!\?):";
            return Regex.Split(input, pattern);
        }
    }
}

Updated fiddler https://dotnetfiddle.net/ZF5TP1 – Andi Pexton Nov 16 '19 at 13:43 — Andi Pexton, Nov 16 '19 at 13:43

Split a string by another string except by

1 Answers1