How to replace all special characters represented by ASCII values in a string [duplicate]

Question

I am receive a string of data from an API where all special characters are represented as there ASCII values. What is the best, in terms of speed and accuracy, way to detect and replace these?

Source String:

    "Could not find &#39;Some User&#39; are you sure this user is valid&#63;"

Desired Result:

    "Could not find 'Some User' are you sure this user is valid?"

I am currently using the string replace function, but that will look very ugly if I have to do it for every single special character.

string correctedErrorMessage = originalErrorMessage.Replace("&#39;", "'").Replace("&#63;","?");

HttpUtility.HtmlDecode? Or WebUtility.HtmlDecode if it's not a web app. — 41686d6564
– 41686d6564, Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 23:15
Note: Those are Unicode codepoint values. Nothing to do with ASCII. — Tom Blodget
– Tom Blodget, Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 1:30
Also note: Given that the text is an HTML or XML value, could it be that the API might give you are a more complex result that you'd want to deal with in more detail, such as just the text without the markup? The HTTP response header Content-Type would give more information about the intent. Consider if you got <b>Could not find 'Some User'.<b> <i>Are you sure this user is valid?</i>. Check the API documentation. — Tom Blodget
– Tom Blodget, Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 1:34

Mustafa Salih ASLIM · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-23 23:18:47Z

4

you can use Html Encode/Decode

using System.Net;

    string val = "Could not find &#39;Some User&#39; are you sure this user is valid&#63;";
    string decodedString = WebUtility.HtmlDecode(val);

answered Jul 23, 2019 at 23:18

Mustafa Salih ASLIM

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