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How to sort descending a string list contains strings with alphabets & numbers in C# .net?

I have values in a string list like
AB1001_A
AB1001_B
AB1002_2
AB1002_C
AB1003_0
AB1003_
AB1003_B
AB1003_A
AB1001_0
AB1001_1
AB1001_2
AB1001_C
AB1002_B
AB1002_A
And I wanted to sort this by ascending order and the suffixes in descending order like below
AB1001_2
AB1001_1
AB1001_0
AB1001_C
AB1001_B
AB1001_A
AB1002_0
AB1002_B
AB1002_A
AB1003_0
AB1003_B
AB1003_A
AB1003_
How can I code it in C#.net?

It is quite strange sorting, but if you really need it, try something like this:
List<string> lItemsOfYourValues = new List<string>() {"AB1001_A","AB1001_B","AB1001_0" /*and next your values*/};
List<Tuple<string,string,string>> lItemsOfYourProcessedValues = new List<Tuple<string,string,string>>();
string[] arrSplitedValue;
for(int i = 0; i < lItemsOfYourValues.Count; i++)
{
arrSplitedValue = lItemsOfYourValues[i].Split("_");
lItemsOfYourProcessedValues.add(new Tuple<string,string,string>(lItemsOfYourValues[i], arrSplitedValue[0], arrSplitedValue[1]));
}
List<string> lSortedValues = lItemsOfYourProcessedValues.OrderBy(o => o.Item2).ThenByDescending(o => o.Item3).Select(o => o.Item1).ToList();

It looks like you have an error in your expected results, since AB1002_2 is in the input but not in the expected results.
Assuming that's just an error, and further assuming that the suffixes are limited to a single character or digit, you can solve the sorting by writing a special comparer like so:
static int compare(string x, string y)
{
var xParts = x.Split('_', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var yParts = y.Split('_', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
if (xParts.Length != yParts.Length)
return yParts.Length - xParts.Length; // No suffix goes after suffix.
if (xParts.Length == 0) // Should never happen.
return 0;
int comp = string.Compare(xParts[0], yParts[0], StringComparison.Ordinal);
if (comp != 0 || xParts.Length == 1)
return comp;
if (char.IsDigit(xParts[1][0]) && !char.IsDigit(yParts[1][0]))
return -1; // Digits go before non-digit.
if (!char.IsDigit(xParts[1][0]) && char.IsDigit(yParts[1][0]))
return 1; // Digits go before non-digit.
return string.Compare(yParts[1], xParts[1], StringComparison.Ordinal);
}
Which you can then use to sort a string list, array or IEnumerable<string>, like so:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace Demo
{
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
var strings = new []
{
"AB1001_A",
"AB1001_B",
"AB1002_2",
"AB1002_C",
"AB1003_0",
"AB1003_",
"AB1003_B",
"AB1003_A",
"AB1001_0",
"AB1001_1",
"AB1001_2",
"AB1001_C",
"AB1002_B",
"AB1002_A",
};
static int compare(string x, string y)
{
var xParts = x.Split('_', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var yParts = y.Split('_', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
if (xParts.Length != yParts.Length)
return yParts.Length - xParts.Length;
if (xParts.Length == 0)
return 0;
int comp = string.Compare(xParts[0], yParts[0], StringComparison.Ordinal);
if (comp != 0 || xParts.Length == 1)
return comp;
if (char.IsDigit(xParts[1][0]) && !char.IsDigit(yParts[1][0]))
return -1; // Digits go before non-digit.
if (!char.IsDigit(xParts[1][0]) && char.IsDigit(yParts[1][0]))
return 1; // Digits go before non-digit.
return string.Compare(yParts[1], xParts[1], StringComparison.Ordinal);
}
var stringList = strings.ToList();
stringList.Sort(compare);
Console.WriteLine("Sorted list:");
Console.WriteLine(string.Join("\n", stringList));
var stringArray = strings.ToArray();
Array.Sort(stringArray, compare);
Console.WriteLine("\nSorted array:");
Console.WriteLine(string.Join("\n", stringArray));
var sequence = strings.Select(element => element);
var sortedSeq = sequence.OrderBy(element => element, Comparer<string>.Create(compare));
Console.WriteLine("\nSorted sequence:");
Console.WriteLine(string.Join("\n", sortedSeq));
}
}
}
Try it online on .Net Fiddle

Finally I got the soln by this
var mystrings = new []
{
"AB1001_A",
"AB1001_B",
"AB1002_2",
"AB1002_C",
"AB1003_0",
"AB1003_",
"AB1003_B",
"AB1003_A",
"AB1001_0",
"AB1001_1",
"AB1001_2",
"AB1001_C",
"AB1002_B",
"AB1002_A",
};
mystrings.Cast<string>().OrderBy(x => PadNumbers(x));
and then PadNumbers function as like below
public static string PadNumbers(string input)
{
return Regex.Replace(input, "[0-9]+", match => match.Value.PadLeft(10, '0'));
}

Find next string in a list of string

I have a list of UserNames in a comma delimited string. I want to find next one of the input username.
For Example:
var s0 = "abc,deF,ghi,jkl";
var s1 = "abc";
var s2 = "def";
var s3 = "ghi";
var s4 = "jkl";
Result should be:
NextInString(s0,s1 ) == "def"
NextInString(s0,s2 ) == "ghi"
NextInString(s0,s3 ) == "jkl"
NextInString(s0,s4 ) == "jkl"
Here is what I have:
string NextInString(string listOfNames, string userName)
{
if(listOfNames == string.Empty || userName == string.Empty)
return string.Empty;
var s = listOfNames.Split(',');
var count = 0;
foreach (var element in s)
{
if (element == userName)break;
count++;
}
if (s.Length -1 == count)
{
return s[count];
}
else return s[ count + 1 ];
}
My question is, is there a better/easier way to approach this?

If you take the extra step to ensure your string list is trimmed, you can just use the IndexOf() method of List<T>:
string csv = "test1, test2, test3, test4";
List<string> names = csv.Split(',').Select(x => x.Trim()).ToList();
Then your NextInString() method (I think this is a poorly named method) would look like this:
private static string NextInString(List<string> names, string userName)
{
int index = names.IndexOf(userName);
if(names.Count - 1 == index || index == -1)
{
return "No result";
}
else
{
return names[index + 1];
}
}
I made a fiddle here

You can use Linq like this:
string userName = "abc";
string listOfNames = "abc,xyz,123";
var names = listOfNames
.Split(',')
.Select((n, i) => new {name = n, index =i} )
.ToArray();
var firstMatch = names.FirstOrDefault(n => n.name == userName);
var result = firstMatch == null
? string.Empty
: firstMatch.index == names.Length - 1
? string.Empty
: names[firstMatch.index + 1].name;

Here is the LINQ approach:
string NextInString(string listOfNames, string userName)
{
if(listOfNames == string.Empty || userName == string.Empty) return string.Empty;
var names = listOfNames.Split(',');
return names
.SkipWhile(x => x != userName)
.Skip(1)
.FirstOrDefault() ?? names.Last();
}

You can make a nice little extension method to do this after the string is split, like so:
static class IListExtensions
{
public static T FindItemAfter<T>(this IList<T> list, T targetItem)
{
return list[list.IndexOf(targetItem)+ 1];
}
}
You can use it like this:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var list = "cat,dog,rat".Split(',');
Console.WriteLine(list.FindItemAfter("cat"));
Console.WriteLine(list.FindItemAfter("dog"));
Console.ReadLine();
}
It returns:
dog
rat
This overload will allow you to specify a default value that gets returned if the requested item isn't found, or the next item would be outside the list.
public static T FindItemAfter<T>(this IList<T> list, T targetItem, T defaultValue)
{
var index = list.IndexOf(targetItem);
if (index == -1 || index >= list.Count - 1)
{
return defaultValue;
}
return list[index + 1];
}

How about something like this?
var s = listOfNames.Split(',');
for (var i = 0; i < s.count; i++)
{
if (i == s.count - 1)
{
return string.Format("No user after {0} was found", userName);
}
else if (s[i] == userName)
{
return s[i + 1];
}
}

Icomparer c# List

I have a list of image name like this {"1.jpg", "10.jpg", "2.jpg"}.
I would like to sort like this {"1.jpg", "2.jpg", "10.jpg"}.
I created this comparer. That means if x or y == "DSC_10.jpg", so if list is {"DSC_1.jpg", "DSC_10.jpg", "DSC_2.jpg", ...} don't sort and keep the list.
var comparer = new CompareImageName();
imageUrls.Sort(comparer);
return imageUrls;
public class CompareImageName : IComparer<string>
{
public int Compare(string x, string y)
{
if (x == null || y == null) return 0;
var l = x.Split('/');
var l1 = y.Split('/');
int a, b;
var rs = int.TryParse(l[l.Length - 1].Split('.')[0], out a);
var rs2 = int.TryParse(l1[l1.Length - 1].Split('.')[0], out b);
if (!rs || !rs2) return 0;
if (a == b || a == 0 && b == 0) return 0;
return a > b ? 1 : -1;
}
}
This sort correctly with name {"1.jpg", "10.jpg", "2.jpg"}, but incorrectly if list is {"DSC_1.jpg", "DSC_10.jpg", "DSC_2.jpg", ...}.
I read in MSDN:
What wrong with my code?

I think you're better off doing a bit of Regex for this. Try this solution:
public class CompareImageName : IComparer<string>
{
public int Compare(string x, string y)
{
if (x == null || y == null) return 0;
var regex = new Regex(#"/(((?<prefix>\w*)_)|)((?<number>\d+))\.jpg$");
var mx = regex.Match(x);
var my = regex.Match(y);
var r = mx.Groups["prefix"].Value.CompareTo(my.Groups["prefix"].Value);
if (r == 0)
{
r = int.Parse(mx.Groups["number"].Value).CompareTo(int.Parse(my.Groups["number"].Value));
}
return r;
}
}
Apart from the Regex string itself this is easier to follow the logic.

Here is your solution check this example, following class will do the comparison
public class NumericCompare : IComparer<string>
{
public int Compare(string x, string y)
{
int input1,input2;
input1=int.Parse(x.Substring(x.IndexOf('_')+1).Split('.')[0]);
input2= int.Parse(y.Substring(y.IndexOf('_')+1).Split('.')[0]);
return Comparer<int>.Default.Compare(input1,input2);
}
}
You can make use of this class like the following:
var imageUrls = new List<string>() { "DSC_1.jpg", "DSC_10.jpg", "DSC_2.jpg" };
var comparer = new NumericCompare();
imageUrls.Sort(comparer);
Console.WriteLine(String.Join("\n",imageUrls));
Try this with simple OrderBy
var SortedList = imageUrls.OrderBy(
x=>int.Parse(
x.Substring(x.IndexOf('_')+1).Split('.')[0])
).ToList();

Basically what you want to do is sort by the numeric part within the string. You are almost there. You just have to handle the part when you split a case like this DSC_2.jpg using a . then the first part is not all digits. So you need to get digits and then compare those. Here is the code. Please note I have made the assumption you will have backslash and if that is not the case then please handle it:
public int Compare(string x, string y)
{
if (x == null || y == null) return 0;
var nameX = x.Substring(x.LastIndexOf('/'));
var nameY = y.Substring(y.LastIndexOf('/'));
var nameXParts = nameX.Split('.');
var nameYParts = nameY.Split('.');
int a, b;
var rs = int.TryParse(nameXParts[0], out a);
var rs2 = int.TryParse(nameYParts[0], out b);
var nameXDigits = string.Empty;
if (!rs)
{
for (int i = 0; i < nameXParts[0].Length; i++)
{
if (Char.IsDigit(nameXParts[0][i]))
nameXDigits += nameXParts[0][i];
}
}
var nameYDigits = string.Empty;
if (!rs2)
{
for (int i = 0; i < nameYParts[0].Length; i++)
{
if (Char.IsDigit(nameYParts[0][i]))
nameYDigits += nameYParts[0][i];
}
}
int.TryParse(nameXDigits, out a);
int.TryParse(nameYDigits, out b);
if (a == b || a == 0 && b == 0) return 0;
return a > b ? 1 : -1;
}

Don't use imageUrls.Sort(comparer); on List because it doesn't accept 0 value as keeping the order of elements.
Reason:
The Sort performs an unstable sort; that is, if two elements are equal, their order might not be preserved. In contrast, a stable sort preserves the order of elements that are equal.
Link: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/w56d4y5z.aspx
Solution: Let's try to use OrderBy with your compare
var imageUrls1 = new List<string>() { "1.jpg", "10.jpg", "2.jpg" };
var imageUrls2 = new List<string>() { "DSC_1.jpg", "DSC_10.jpg", "DSC_2.jpg" };
var comparer = new CompareImageName();
//Sort normally
imageUrls1 = imageUrls1.OrderBy(p=>p, comparer).ToList();
//Keep the order as your expectation
imageUrls2 = imageUrls2.OrderBy(p=>p, comparer).ToList();

Maybe you can try doing this in a function instead of writing a comparator. I can't think of a good way to implement this logic as a comparator since there are different rules based on the contents (don't sort if the file name is not numeric).
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
namespace sortinglists
{
public class MainProgram
{
public static void Main()
{
var imageUrlsNumbers = new List<string>();
imageUrlsNumbers.Add("c:/a/b/1.jpg");
imageUrlsNumbers.Add("c:/a/b/10.jpg");
imageUrlsNumbers.Add("c:/a/b/2.jpg");
CustomSort(ref imageUrlsNumbers);
foreach (var imageUrl in imageUrlsNumbers)
{
Console.WriteLine(imageUrl);
}
var imageUrlsText = new List<string>();
imageUrlsText.Add("c:/a/b/DSC_1.jpg");
imageUrlsText.Add("c:/a/b/DSC_10.jpg");
imageUrlsText.Add("c:/a/b/DSC_2.jpg");
CustomSort(ref imageUrlsText);
foreach (var imageUrl in imageUrlsText)
{
Console.WriteLine(imageUrl);
}
}
public static void CustomSort(ref List<string> imageUrls)
{
if (imageUrls
.Select(s => s.Substring(s.LastIndexOf("/", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) + 1))
.Select(t => t.Substring(0, t.IndexOf(".", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)))
.Where(u => new Regex("[A-Za-z_]").Match(u).Success)
.Any())
{
imageUrls = imageUrls
.Select(x => x.Substring(x.LastIndexOf("/", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) + 1))
.ToList();
}
else
{
imageUrls = imageUrls
.Select(v => v.Substring(v.LastIndexOf("/", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) + 1))
.OrderBy(w => Convert.ToInt32(w.Substring(0, w.LastIndexOf(".", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))))
.ToList();
}
}
}
}
The output for imageUrlsNumbers after sorting is:
1.jpg
2.jpg
10.jpg
And the output for imageUrlsText after sorting is:
DSC_1.jpg
DSC_10.jpg
DSC_2.jpg

Check if a string is sorted

I have a string, simplified "12345" which is sorted. The string couild contain Digits (0-9) or letters (a-z). In case of a mixed use the natural sort order. I need a method to verify if this is true.
Attempt with linq technique:
string items1 = "2349"; //sorted
string items2 = "2476"; //not sorted, 6<>7
bool sorted1 = Enumerable.SequenceEqual(items1.OrderBy(x => x), items1); //true
bool sorted2 = Enumerable.SequenceEqual(items2.OrderBy(x => x), items2); //false
but there could be also a descending sort order.
Is there a better way then
string items3 = "4321";
bool sorted3 = Enumerable.SequenceEqual(items3.OrderBy(x => x), items3) || Enumerable.SequenceEqual(items3.OrderByDescending(x => x), items3);
to check if a string is sorted? Maybe some built in solution?

Your solution in fine and very readable. One problem with it is that it requires ordering the string which is O(n * log(n)), this can be solved by iterating the string without sorting it.
For example:
var firstDifs = items1.Zip(items1.Skip(1), (x, y) => y - x);
This Linq projects every 2 items in the first string to a number which indicates their difference, So if you have items1 = "1245" the output will be:
firstDifs: {1, 2, 1}
Now all you need to do is to validate that firstDifs is either ascending or descending:
bool firstSorted = firstDifs.All(x => x > 0) || firstDifs.All(x => x < 0); //true
Now:
Skip is O(1) since the amount of actions required to skip 1 cell is
constant.
Zip is O(n).
All is O(n).
So the whole solution is O(n).
Note that it will be more efficient with a simple loop, also if the first All has returned false because the 3487th item changes its direction (for example: 1234567891), the second All will run for no reason with the Zip running twice as well (Until where All require) - since there are two iterations of All and Linq evaluates them lazily.

It requires a reducer. In C#, it's Enumerable.Aggregate. It's O(n) algorithm.
var query = "123abc".Aggregate(new { asceding = true, descending = true, prev = (char?)null },
(result, currentChar) =>
new
{
asceding = result.prev == null || result.asceding && currentChar >= result.prev,
descending = result.prev == null || result.descending && currentChar <= result.prev,
prev = (char?)currentChar
}
);
Console.WriteLine(query.asceding || query.descending );

I once had to check something similar to your case but with huge data streams, so performance was important. I came up with this small extension class which performs very well:
public static bool IsOrdered<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable) where T: IComparable<T>
{
using (var enumerator = enumerable.GetEnumerator())
{
if (!enumerator.MoveNext())
return true; //empty enumeration is ordered
var left = enumerator.Current;
int previousUnequalComparison = 0;
while (enumerator.MoveNext())
{
var right = enumerator.Current;
var currentComparison = left.CompareTo(right);
if (currentComparison != 0)
{
if (previousUnequalComparison != 0
&& currentComparison != previousUnequalComparison)
return false;
previousUnequalComparison = currentComparison;
left = right;
}
}
}
return true;
}
Using it is obviously very simple:
var items1 = "2349";
var items2 = "2476"; //not sorted, 6<>7
items1.IsOrdered(); //true
items2.IsOrdered(); //false

You can do much better than the accepted answer by not having to compare all of the elements:
var s = "2349";
var r = Enumerable.Range(1, s.Length - 1);
//var isAscending = r.All(i => s[i - 1] <= s[i]);
//var isDescending = r.All(i => s[i - 1] >= s[i]);
var isOrdered = r.All(i => s[i - 1] <= s[i]) || r.All(i => s[i - 1] >= s[i]);

var items = "4321";
var sortedItems = items.OrderBy(i => i); // Process the order once only
var sorted = sortedItems.SequenceEqual(items) || sortedItems.SequenceEqual(items.Reverse()); // Reverse using yield return

I would go for simple iteration over all elements:
string str = "whatever123";
Func<char, char, bool> pred;
bool? asc = str.TakeWhile((q, i) => i < str.Length - 1)
.Select((q, i) => str[i] == str[i+1] ? (bool?)null : str[i] < str[i+1])
.FirstOrDefault(q => q.HasValue);
if (!asc.HasValue)
return true; //all chars are the same
if (asc.Value)
pred = (c1, c2) => c1 <= c2;
else
pred = (c1, c2) => c1 >= c2;
for (int i = 0; i < str.Length - 1; ++i)
{
if (!pred(str[i], str[i + 1]))
return false;
}
return true;

How to perform word search using LINQ?

I have a list which contains the name of suppliers. Say
SuppId Supplier Name
----------------------------------
1 Aardema & Whitelaw
2 Aafedt Forde Gray
3 Whitelaw & Sears-Ewald
using following LINQ query
supplierListQuery = supplierListQuery.Where(x => x.SupplierName.Contains(SearchKey));
I can return records correctly in the following conditions,
1) If i am using search string as "Whitelaw & Sears-Ewald" it will return 3rd record.
2) If i am using "Whitelaw" or "Sears-Ewald" it will return 3rd record.
But how can i return 3rd record if i am giving search string as "Whitelaw Sears-Ewald". It always returns 0 records.
Can i use ALL to get this result, but i dont know how to use it for this particular need.

What I usually do in this situation is split the words into a collection, then perform the following:
var searchopts = SearchKey.Split(' ').ToList();
supplierListQuery = supplierListQuery
.Where(x => searchopts.Any(y=> x.SupplierName.Contains(y)));

This works for me:
IEnumerable<string> keyWords = SearchKey.Split('');
supplierListQuery = supplierListQuery
.AsParallel()
.Where
(
x => keyWords.All
(
keyword => x.SupplierName.ContainsIgnoreCase(keyword)
)
);

Thank you all for your quick responses. But the one which worked or a easy fix to handle this was timothyclifford's note on this. Like he said i alterd my answer to this
string[] filters = SearchKey.ToLower().Split(new[] { ' ' });
objSuppliersList = (from x in objSuppliersList
where filters.All(f => x.SupplierName.ToLower().Contains(f))
select x).ToList();
Now it returns the result for all my serach conditions.

Because "Whitelaw" appears in both you will get both records. Otherwise there is no dynamic way to determine you only want the last one. If you know you only have these 3 then append .Last() to get the final record.
supplierListQuery = supplierListQuery.Where(x => x.SupplierName.Contains(SearchKey.Split(' ')[0]));

You need to use some sort of string comparer to create your own simple Search Engine and then you can find strings that are most likely to be included in your result :
public static class SearchEngine
{
public static double CompareStrings(string val1, string val2)
{
if ((val1.Length == 0) || (val2.Length == 0)) return 0;
if (val1 == val2) return 100;
double maxLength = Math.Max(val1.Length, val2.Length);
double minLength = Math.Min(val1.Length, val2.Length);
int charIndex = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < minLength; i++) { if (val1.Contains(val2[i])) charIndex++; }
return Math.Round(charIndex / maxLength * 100);
}
public static List<string> Search(this string[] values, string searchKey, double threshold)
{
List<string> result = new List<string>();
for (int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++) if (CompareStrings(values[i], searchKey) > threshold) result.Add(values[i]);
return result;
}
}
Example of usage :
string[] array = { "Aardema & Whitelaw", "Aafedt Forde Gray", "Whitelaw & Sears-Ewald" };
var result = array.Search("WhitelawSears-Ewald", 80);
// Results that matches this string with 80% or more
foreach (var item in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(item);
}
Output: Whitelaw & Sears-Ewald

If you want an easy (not very handy) solution,
var result = supplierListQuery
.Select(x => normalize(x.SupplierName))
.Where(x => x.Contains(normalize(SearchKey)));
string normalize(string inputStr)
{
string retVal = inputStr.Replace("&", "");
while (retVal.IndexOf(" ") >= 0)
{
retVal = retVal.Replace(" ", " ");
}
return retVal;
}