Regex and Replace Specific Fields of String

Question

I need to do some modifications on dynamically generated strings;

String Example

Products [279] Electric Paint Sprayer [21] Airbrush Equipment [109] Spray Tanning Equipment [23] Mini Air Compressor [33] Sand blasting gun [5] Paint Tank [9] Air Spray Gun [26] Pneumatic tools/Air tools [26] Tire Inflating gun [10] Air Riveter [6] Hand Tools [7] Comb/Hair Brush [4]

I want to remove "Products [279]" from the beginning (always the same except the numbers) and replace the rest of the string like this "Electric Paint Sprayer [21] - Airbrush Equipment [109] - ..."

Do you really need Regex for such a simple task? have you tried this?str=str.Substring(str.IndexOf(']')+2) — L.B
– L.B, Commented Jan 6, 2012 at 22:14

Brad Christie · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-06 22:18:15Z

Demo

String sample = @"Products [279] Electric Paint Sprayer [21] Airbrush Equipment [109] Spray Tanning Equipment [23] Mini Air Compressor [33] Sand blasting gun [5] Paint Tank [9] Air Spray Gun [26] Pneumatic tools/Air tools [26] Tire Inflating gun [10] Air Riveter [6] Hand Tools [7] Comb/Hair Brush [4]";

// Remove "Products [#] "
sample = Regex.Replace(sample, @"^Products \[\d+\]\s*", String.Empty);

// Add hyphens
sample = Regex.Replace(sample, @"(\[\d+\])(?=\s*\w)", @"$1 - ");
// the (?=\s*\w) makes sure we only add a hyphen when there's more information
// ahead (and not a hyphen to the end of the string)

Outcome:

Electric Paint Sprayer [21] - Airbrush Equipment [109] - Spray Tanning Equipment [23] - Mini Air Compressor [33] - Sand blasting gun [5] - Paint Tank [9] - Air Spray Gun [26] - Pneumatic tools/Air tools [26] - Tire Inflating gun [10] - Air Riveter [6] - Hand Tools [7] - Comb/Hair Brush [4]

Josh C. · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-06 22:12:22Z

0

You can use String.Remove or String.Replace to do this. Remember that this does not modify that string but returns a new one.

Oh, and to find the Products [XXX], you could use String.SubString(0, String.IndexOf(']')); To find the string that includes the first instance of ']'.

answered Jan 6, 2012 at 22:12

Josh C.

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Comments

fge · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-06 22:12:51Z

0

Proceed as follows:

replace ^\w+\s+\[\d+\]\s+ with nothing (removes Products [279]<space> in your example);
replace (?<\])(?=\s+.) with <space>- globally.

answered Jan 6, 2012 at 22:12

fge

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1 Comment

Burak F. Kilicaslan Over a year ago

thanks #fge, first one works but the second one gives me error.

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