Check a Word in a Given String using Regular Expressions in C#

Question

I'm currently attempting to check if a specific word is contained in a user-entered string. I'm using Regular Expressions and have the following code:

 class Program
 {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        string input = @"oaaawaala";
        string word = "Owl";

        string pattern = Regex.Replace(word, ".", ".*$0");

        RegexOptions options = RegexOptions.Multiline | RegexOptions.IgnoreCase;

        var found = Regex.Matches(input, pattern, options).Count > 0;

        Console.WriteLine("Found: {0}", found);
    }
}

The value of 'found' in the above code is true as the word 'Owl' is found in the input 'oaaawaala', based on the 'pattern'.

However, if I change the sequence of input to 'alaawaaao' or if the input is scrambled any other way, the value of 'found' is false since the pattern no longer matches. The Solution I need is that the 'word' should be found in any given string - scrambled or unscrambled. Any suggestions on how to go about this.

Thanks

So you are not interested in the word Owl, but rather O,w and l characters? — Paolo
– Paolo, Commented Jul 1, 2018 at 15:57
Do you need o, w and l to be matched in this order or in any order? — JohnyL
– JohnyL, Commented Jul 1, 2018 at 18:09

Tyrrrz · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-01 16:04:08Z

1

Why not just check that input contains all characters from word?

class Program
 {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        string input = @"oaaawaala";
        string word = "Owl";

        var found = word.ToCharArray().Select(c => char.ToUpper(c)).Distinct().All(c => input.ToUpper().Contains(c));

        Console.WriteLine("Found: {0}", found);
    }
}

answered Jul 1, 2018 at 16:04

Tyrrrz

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Comments

Bala · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-04 06:48:48Z

0

For regex solution, try this:

        string input = @"oaaawaala";
        string word = "Owl";
        if (Regex.IsMatch(input, Regex.Escape(word), RegexOptions.IgnoreCase))
        {
            MatchCollection matches = Regex.Matches(input, Regex.Escape(word), RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);
            Console.WriteLine("Found: {0}", matches[0].Groups[0].Value);
        }

answered Jul 4, 2018 at 6:48

Bala

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