Using String Split

Question

I have a text

Category2,"Something with ,comma"

when I split this by ',' it should give me two string

Category2
"Something with ,comma"

but in actual it split string from every comma.

how can I achieve my expected result.

Thanx

Break down your problem into a simple set of rules. What do you want to do? Are you saying you want to split on a comma, but *not* if it is enclosed in double quotes? — Rob Levine, Jun 14 '11 at 14:06

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:05

4

Just call variable.Split(new char[] { ',' }, 2). Complete documentation in MSDN.

answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:05

Ahe

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Hi thanx, as the solution shows it separate the string from first ',' it works for me, but suppose there is a string My, Name ,Is BreakHead. and it should split like this My, Name and Is BreakHead ? – BreakHead Jun 14 '11 at 14:34
General solution depends on your data and what it can contain. Check other answers provided to your question, they also provide nice solutions. – Ahe Jun 15 '11 at 05:53

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:00

2

There are a number of things that you could be wanting to do here so I will address a few:

Split on the first comma

String text = text.Split(new char[] { ',' }, 2);

Split on every comma

String text = text.Split(new char[] {','});

Split on a comma not in "

var result = Regex.Split(samplestring, ",(?=(?:[^']*'[^']*')*[^']*$)");

Last one taken from C# Regex Split

edited May 23 '17 at 10:00

Community

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answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:13

msarchet

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Your last example works for strings inside ' not inside ". You would have to to this as : `Regex.Split(text, ",(?=(?:[^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*[^\"]*$)")` if the string is within ", as in the example of the OP. – Vladimir Jun 14 '11 at 14:29

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:06

1

Specify the maximum number of strings you want in the array:

string[] parts = text.Split(new char[] { ',' }, 2);

answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:06

Guffa

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:10

String.Split works at the simplest, fastest level - so it splits the text on all of the delimiters you pass into it, and it has no concept of special rules like double-quotes.

If you need a CSV parser which understands double-quotes, then you can write your own or there are some excellent open source parsers available - e.g. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/CsvReader.aspx - this is one I've used in several projects and recommend.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 14 '11 at 14:53

Try this:

public static class StringExtensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<string> SplitToSubstrings(this string str)
    {
        int startIndex = 0;
        bool isInQuotes = false;

        for (int index = 0; index < str.Length; index++ )
        {
            if (str[index] == '\"')
                isInQuotes = !isInQuotes;

            bool isStartOfNewSubstring = (!isInQuotes && str[index] == ',');                

            if (isStartOfNewSubstring)
            {
                yield return str.Substring(startIndex, index - startIndex).Trim();
                startIndex = index + 1;
            }
        }

        yield return str.Substring(startIndex).Trim();
    }
}

Usage is pretty simple:

foreach(var str in text.SplitToSubstrings())
    Console.WriteLine(str);

Using String Split

5 Answers5