Remove slashes from date and file extension from string

Question

I need to do two things with strings:
A. Remove the file extension
B. Remove the '-' from the dates.

An example of an uploaded string is:

ifrs_au-cor_2013-03-12.xsd

I can't just do a replace on '-' because the first part of the string contains a '-' that I don't want removed, only the date ones. However, the date will always be in YYYY-MM-DD format and it will be at the end with the extension.

Currently I only have the following code to remove the extension from the string:

String xsdfnameNoExtNoSlash = xsdfname;
int fileExtPos = xsdfname.LastIndexOf(".");
if (fileExtPos >= 0 )
  xsdfnameNoExtNoSlash = xsdfname.Substring(0, fileExtPos);

Is there any way to do both of these operations in one go?

I guess a regular expression may help here, but to be honest, what's the advantage of doing this in 1 go. I don't think this is really needed. — L-Four
– L-Four, Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 18:57
Not at all a requirement just, no problem with two different strings. Was just wondering if there was a regex or some way to do it in one. — oe a
– oe a, Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 19:04

Roman Starkov · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-12 19:13:00Z

2

var name = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(name);
return Regex.Replace(name, @"(?<!\d)(\d\d\d\d)-(\d\d)-(\d\d)(?!\d)", "$2$3$4");

This first removes the extension (if present), and then finds all dates and removes slashes from them.

The regex uses lookahead and lookbehind to ensure that something like "92012-01-019" is not considered a date. Anything other than a digit is accepted as a date boundary. You can tweak this if necessary, for example, if "92012-01-019" should, in fact, be changed to "9201201019" then you can just remove the lookahead/lookbehind (and change the numbers in the replacement string).

I think it's easiest to remove the extension as a separate step, rather than trying to do it all in one go.

answered Mar 12, 2013 at 19:13

Roman Starkov

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2 Comments

L-Four Over a year ago

Nice, and your conclusion is also correct in my opinion. Doing it with a regex makes it almost unreadable :)

oe a Over a year ago

running the code is giving me: ifrs_au-cor_0312$4 - its removing the year and adding a $4 also.

Brian P · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-12 18:55:55Z

0

string noslash = withslash.Replace('-', '');
string noextension = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(xsdfname);

answered Mar 12, 2013 at 18:55

Brian P

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2 Comments

Sam Over a year ago

Even if the Replace method were applicable here, the string version would have to be used, seeing as there is no empty character literal. See stackoverflow.com/questions/3670505/… for more information.

Brian P Over a year ago

Oops, missed the requirement. In that case, you woud need a regex replace.

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