I'm a beginner at this and hoping someone can help me.
What I am trying do is check if the character in char b exists in string s. If it exists, it should write the letter out to the char array at the right index number. If not, then it should write a - instead. But this keeps resetting for me every new instance of char b. Any ideas?
public static void test(char[] h, char b, string s)
{
for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
{
if (s[i] == b)
{
h[i] = b;
Console.Write(h[i]);
}
if (s[i] != b)
{
h[i] = '-';
Console.Write(h[i]);
}
}
}
.Contains() method
Try the string.Contains method that would work for you.
someString.Contains('c'); // where c can be any character. returns a bool value
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dy85x1sa(v=vs.110).aspx
.IndexOf() method
You can try getting the character at the indexNumber of the string too.
int index = IndexOf("String here"); // zero based index number... returns int
The above mentioed code is a single line code to find the character.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/k8b1470s(v=vs.110).aspx
Just for sake of help
I think you want to search for each character in the available String. Few days ago, Jon Skeet, told me this one
char characterToFind = 'r';
string s = "Hello world!";
int index = 0; // because foreach won't use any int i = 0 method
foreach (char c in s) { // foreach character in the string
// read the character and post the output
if(c == characterToFind) {
Console.Write("Character found at: " + index.ToString());
}
index++; // increment
}
You can simply do the following:
string str = "hello world";
str.Contains('h');
You can also use:
string.IndexOfAny(b) >= 0;
It will give you the index of the char that you can store in your array.
You can use the str.IndexOf(String char) method.
You can simplify your code to this:
for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
{
if(s[i] == b)
{
h[i] = b;
}
else
{
h[i] = '-';
}
Console.Write(h[i]);
}
(..and actually simplify it further with the ternary operator ?:, but let's keep things simple). Running it with this as input:
var h = new char[16];
test(h, 'p', "purple people");
Produces this input:
p--p---p--p--
..which I think is what you're after.
Related
Okay, so what I want to do should sound pretty simple. I have a method that checks every character in a string if it's a letter from a to m. I now have to continue a foreach loop, while in a for loop. Is there a possible way to do what I want to do?
public static string Function(String s)
{
int error = 0;
foreach (char c in s)
{
for (int i = 97; i <= 109; i++)
{
if (c == (char)i)
{
// Here immediately continue the upper foreach loop, not the for loop
continue;
}
}
error++;
}
int length = s.Length;
return error + "/" + length;
}
If there's a character that's not in the range of a to m, there should be 1 added to error. In the end, the function should return the number of errors and the number of total characters in the string, f.E: "3/17".
Edit
What I wanted to achieve is not possible. There are workarounds, demonstrated in BsdDaemon's answer, by using a temporary variable.
The other answers fix my issue directly, by simply improving my code.
i think ('a' == (char)i) should be (c == (char)i) .
and why not replace the for with just if((int)c >= 97 && (int)c <= 109)?
you solution might work but is extremly unperformant
How about using LINQ:
int errors = s
.Count(c => !Enumerable.Range(97, 13).Contains(c));
Then there is no need to break out of the loop.
Or to avoid the nested loop altogether, which will improve performance:
int errors = s.Count(c => c < 97 || c > 109);
char is implicitly convertible to int so there's no need to cast.
You can do this by breaking the internal loop, this means the internal loop will be escaped as if the iterations ended. After this, you can use a boolean to control with continue if the rest of the underlying logic processes:
public static string Function(String s)
{
int error = 0;
foreach (char c in s)
{
bool skip = false;
for (int i = 97; i <= 109; i++)
{
if ('a' == (char)i)
{
skip = true;
break;
}
}
if (skip) continue;
error++;
}
string length = Convert.ToString(s.Length);
return error + "/" + length;
}
Regular Expressions are perfectly suited to handle this type of "problem" and is considerably more flexible...for one thing you would not be limited to consecutive characters. The following console app demonstrates how to use Regex to extract the desired information from the targeted string.
private static string TestSearchTextRegex(string textToSearch)
{
var pattern = "[^a-m]";
var ms = Regex.Matches(textToSearch, pattern);
return $"{ms.Count}/{textToSearch.Length}";
}
NOTE
The pattern "[^a-m]" basically says: find a match that is NOT (^) in the set of characters. This pattern could easily be defined as "[^a-mz]" which in addition to characters "a-m" would also consider "z" to also be a character that would not be counted in the error group.
Another advantage to the Regex solution, you are able to use the actual characters you are looking for as apposed to the number that represents that character.
The continue will skip the further lines in that iterations and if you need to break out the loop use break.
public static string Function(String s)
{
int error = 0;
foreach (char c in s)
{
for (int i = 97; i <= 109; i++)
{
if ('a' == (char)i)
{
break; // break the whole looping, continue will break only the iteration
}
}
error++;
}
string length = Convert.ToString(s.Length);
return error + "/" + length;
}
I have a question about iterate through the Alphabet.
I would like to have a loop that begins with "a" and ends with "z". After that, the loop begins "aa" and count to "az". after that begins with "ba" up to "bz" and so on...
Anybody know some solution?
Thanks
EDIT: I forgot that I give a char "a" to the function then the function must return b. if u give "bnc" then the function must return "bnd"
First effort, with just a-z then aa-zz
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns()
{
for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; c++)
{
yield return c.ToString();
}
char[] chars = new char[2];
for (char high = 'a'; high <= 'z'; high++)
{
chars[0] = high;
for (char low = 'a'; low <= 'z'; low++)
{
chars[1] = low;
yield return new string(chars);
}
}
}
Note that this will stop at 'zz'. Of course, there's some ugly duplication here in terms of the loops. Fortunately, that's easy to fix - and it can be even more flexible, too:
Second attempt: more flexible alphabet
private const string Alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns()
{
return GetExcelColumns(Alphabet);
}
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns(string alphabet)
{
foreach(char c in alphabet)
{
yield return c.ToString();
}
char[] chars = new char[2];
foreach(char high in alphabet)
{
chars[0] = high;
foreach(char low in alphabet)
{
chars[1] = low;
yield return new string(chars);
}
}
}
Now if you want to generate just a, b, c, d, aa, ab, ac, ad, ba, ... you'd call GetExcelColumns("abcd").
Third attempt (revised further) - infinite sequence
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns(string alphabet)
{
int length = 0;
char[] chars = null;
int[] indexes = null;
while (true)
{
int position = length-1;
// Try to increment the least significant
// value.
while (position >= 0)
{
indexes[position]++;
if (indexes[position] == alphabet.Length)
{
for (int i=position; i < length; i++)
{
indexes[i] = 0;
chars[i] = alphabet[0];
}
position--;
}
else
{
chars[position] = alphabet[indexes[position]];
break;
}
}
// If we got all the way to the start of the array,
// we need an extra value
if (position == -1)
{
length++;
chars = new char[length];
indexes = new int[length];
for (int i=0; i < length; i++)
{
chars[i] = alphabet[0];
}
}
yield return new string(chars);
}
}
It's possible that it would be cleaner code using recursion, but it wouldn't be as efficient.
Note that if you want to stop at a certain point, you can just use LINQ:
var query = GetExcelColumns().TakeWhile(x => x != "zzz");
"Restarting" the iterator
To restart the iterator from a given point, you could indeed use SkipWhile as suggested by thesoftwarejedi. That's fairly inefficient, of course. If you're able to keep any state between call, you can just keep the iterator (for either solution):
using (IEnumerator<string> iterator = GetExcelColumns())
{
iterator.MoveNext();
string firstAttempt = iterator.Current;
if (someCondition)
{
iterator.MoveNext();
string secondAttempt = iterator.Current;
// etc
}
}
Alternatively, you may well be able to structure your code to use a foreach anyway, just breaking out on the first value you can actually use.
Edit: Made it do exactly as the OP's latest edit wants
This is the simplest solution, and tested:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(GetNextBase26("a"));
Console.WriteLine(GetNextBase26("bnc"));
}
private static string GetNextBase26(string a)
{
return Base26Sequence().SkipWhile(x => x != a).Skip(1).First();
}
private static IEnumerable<string> Base26Sequence()
{
long i = 0L;
while (true)
yield return Base26Encode(i++);
}
private static char[] base26Chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".ToCharArray();
private static string Base26Encode(Int64 value)
{
string returnValue = null;
do
{
returnValue = base26Chars[value % 26] + returnValue;
value /= 26;
} while (value-- != 0);
return returnValue;
}
The following populates a list with the required strings:
List<string> result = new List<string>();
for (char ch = 'a'; ch <= 'z'; ch++){
result.Add (ch.ToString());
}
for (char i = 'a'; i <= 'z'; i++)
{
for (char j = 'a'; j <= 'z'; j++)
{
result.Add (i.ToString() + j.ToString());
}
}
I know there are plenty of answers here, and one's been accepted, but IMO they all make it harder than it needs to be. I think the following is simpler and cleaner:
static string NextColumn(string column){
char[] c = column.ToCharArray();
for(int i = c.Length - 1; i >= 0; i--){
if(char.ToUpper(c[i]++) < 'Z')
break;
c[i] -= (char)26;
if(i == 0)
return "A" + new string(c);
}
return new string(c);
}
Note that this doesn't do any input validation. If you don't trust your callers, you should add an IsNullOrEmpty check at the beginning, and a c[i] >= 'A' && c[i] <= 'Z' || c[i] >= 'a' && c[i] <= 'z' check at the top of the loop. Or just leave it be and let it be GIGO.
You may also find use for these companion functions:
static string GetColumnName(int index){
StringBuilder txt = new StringBuilder();
txt.Append((char)('A' + index % 26));
//txt.Append((char)('A' + --index % 26));
while((index /= 26) > 0)
txt.Insert(0, (char)('A' + --index % 26));
return txt.ToString();
}
static int GetColumnIndex(string name){
int rtn = 0;
foreach(char c in name)
rtn = rtn * 26 + (char.ToUpper(c) - '#');
return rtn - 1;
//return rtn;
}
These two functions are zero-based. That is, "A" = 0, "Z" = 25, "AA" = 26, etc. To make them one-based (like Excel's COM interface), remove the line above the commented line in each function, and uncomment those lines.
As with the NextColumn function, these functions don't validate their inputs. Both with give you garbage if that's what they get.
Here’s what I came up with.
/// <summary>
/// Return an incremented alphabtical string
/// </summary>
/// <param name="letter">The string to be incremented</param>
/// <returns>the incremented string</returns>
public static string NextLetter(string letter)
{
const string alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(letter))
{
char lastLetterInString = letter[letter.Length - 1];
// if the last letter in the string is the last letter of the alphabet
if (alphabet.IndexOf(lastLetterInString) == alphabet.Length - 1)
{
//replace the last letter in the string with the first leter of the alphbat and get the next letter for the rest of the string
return NextLetter(letter.Substring(0, letter.Length - 1)) + alphabet[0];
}
else
{
// replace the last letter in the string with the proceeding letter of the alphabet
return letter.Remove(letter.Length-1).Insert(letter.Length-1, (alphabet[alphabet.IndexOf(letter[letter.Length-1])+1]).ToString() );
}
}
//return the first letter of the alphabet
return alphabet[0].ToString();
}
just curious , why not just
private string alphRecursive(int c) {
var alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".ToCharArray();
if (c >= alphabet.Length) {
return alphRecursive(c/alphabet.Length) + alphabet[c%alphabet.Length];
} else {
return "" + alphabet[c%alphabet.Length];
}
}
This is like displaying an int, only using base 26 in stead of base 10. Try the following algorithm to find the nth entry of the array
q = n div 26;
r = n mod 26;
s = '';
while (q > 0 || r > 0) {
s = alphabet[r] + s;
q = q div 26;
r = q mod 26;
}
Of course, if you want the first n entries, this is not the most efficient solution. In this case, try something like daniel's solution.
I gave this a go and came up with this:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace Alphabetty
{
class Program
{
const string alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
static int cursor = 0;
static int prefixCursor;
static string prefix = string.Empty;
static bool done = false;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string s = string.Empty;
while (s != "Done")
{
s = GetNextString();
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
static string GetNextString()
{
if (done) return "Done";
char? nextLetter = GetNextLetter(ref cursor);
if (nextLetter == null)
{
char? nextPrefixLetter = GetNextLetter(ref prefixCursor);
if(nextPrefixLetter == null)
{
done = true;
return "Done";
}
prefix = nextPrefixLetter.Value.ToString();
nextLetter = GetNextLetter(ref cursor);
}
return prefix + nextLetter;
}
static char? GetNextLetter(ref int letterCursor)
{
if (letterCursor == alphabet.Length)
{
letterCursor = 0;
return null;
}
char c = alphabet[letterCursor];
letterCursor++;
return c;
}
}
}
Here is something I had cooked up that may be similar. I was experimenting with iteration counts in order to design a numbering schema that was as small as possible, yet gave me enough uniqueness.
I knew that each time a added an Alpha character, it would increase the possibilities 26x but I wasn't sure how many letters, numbers, or the pattern I wanted to use.
That lead me to the code below. Basically you pass it an AlphaNumber string, and every position that has a Letter, would eventually increment to "z\Z" and every position that had a Number, would eventually increment to "9".
So you can call it 1 of two ways..
//This would give you the next Itteration... (H3reIsaStup4dExamplf)
string myNextValue = IncrementAlphaNumericValue("H3reIsaStup4dExample")
//Or Loop it resulting eventually as "Z9zzZzzZzzz9zZzzzzzz"
string myNextValue = "H3reIsaStup4dExample"
while (myNextValue != null)
{
myNextValue = IncrementAlphaNumericValue(myNextValue)
//And of course do something with this like write it out
}
(For me, I was doing something like "1AA000")
public string IncrementAlphaNumericValue(string Value)
{
//We only allow Characters a-b, A-Z, 0-9
if (System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.IsMatch(Value, "^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$") == false)
{
throw new Exception("Invalid Character: Must be a-Z or 0-9");
}
//We work with each Character so it's best to convert the string to a char array for incrementing
char[] myCharacterArray = Value.ToCharArray();
//So what we do here is step backwards through the Characters and increment the first one we can.
for (Int32 myCharIndex = myCharacterArray.Length - 1; myCharIndex >= 0; myCharIndex--)
{
//Converts the Character to it's ASCII value
Int32 myCharValue = Convert.ToInt32(myCharacterArray[myCharIndex]);
//We only Increment this Character Position, if it is not already at it's Max value (Z = 90, z = 122, 57 = 9)
if (myCharValue != 57 && myCharValue != 90 && myCharValue != 122)
{
myCharacterArray[myCharIndex]++;
//Now that we have Incremented the Character, we "reset" all the values to the right of it
for (Int32 myResetIndex = myCharIndex + 1; myResetIndex < myCharacterArray.Length; myResetIndex++)
{
myCharValue = Convert.ToInt32(myCharacterArray[myResetIndex]);
if (myCharValue >= 65 && myCharValue <= 90)
{
myCharacterArray[myResetIndex] = 'A';
}
else if (myCharValue >= 97 && myCharValue <= 122)
{
myCharacterArray[myResetIndex] = 'a';
}
else if (myCharValue >= 48 && myCharValue <= 57)
{
myCharacterArray[myResetIndex] = '0';
}
}
//Now we just return an new Value
return new string(myCharacterArray);
}
}
//If we got through the Character Loop and were not able to increment anything, we retun a NULL.
return null;
}
Here's my attempt using recursion:
public static void PrintAlphabet(string alphabet, string prefix)
{
for (int i = 0; i < alphabet.Length; i++) {
Console.WriteLine(prefix + alphabet[i].ToString());
}
if (prefix.Length < alphabet.Length - 1) {
for (int i = 0; i < alphabet.Length; i++) {
PrintAlphabet(alphabet, prefix + alphabet[i]);
}
}
}
Then simply call PrintAlphabet("abcd", "");
Not entirely sure this is possible, but say I have two strings like so:
"IAmAString-00001"
"IAmAString-00023"
What would be a quick'n'easy way to iterate from IAmAString-0001 to IAmAString-00023 by moving up the index of just the numbers on the end?
The problem is a bit more general than that, for example the string I could be dealing could be of any format but the last bunch of chars will always be numbers, so something like Super_Confusing-String#w00t0003 and in that case the last 0003 would be what I'd use to iterate through.
Any ideas?
You can use char.IsDigit:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var s = "IAmAString-00001";
int index = -1;
for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
{
if (char.IsDigit(s[i]))
{
index = i;
break;
}
}
if (index == -1)
Console.WriteLine("digits not found");
else
Console.WriteLine("digits: {0}", s.Substring(index));
}
which produces this output:
digits: 00001
string.Format and a for loop should do what you want.
for(int i = 0; i <=23; i++)
{
string.Format("IAmAString-{0:D4}",i);
}
or something close to that (not sitting in front of a compiler).
string start = "IAmAString-00001";
string end = "IAmAString-00023";
// match constant part and ending digits
var matchstart = Regex.Match(start,#"^(.*?)(\d+)$");
int numberstart = int.Parse(matchstart.Groups[2].Value);
var matchend = Regex.Match(end,#"^(.*?)(\d+)$");
int numberend = int.Parse(matchend.Groups[2].Value);
// constant parts must be the same
if (matchstart.Groups[1].Value != matchend.Groups[1].Value)
throw new ArgumentException("");
// create a format string with same number of digits as original
string format = new string('0', matchstart.Groups[2].Length);
for (int ii = numberstart; ii <= numberend; ++ii)
Console.WriteLine(matchstart.Groups[1].Value + ii.ToString(format));
You could use a Regex:
var match=Regex.Match("Super_Confusing-String#w00t0003",#"(?<=(^.*\D)|^)\d+$");
if(match.Success)
{
var val=int.Parse(match.Value);
Console.WriteLine(val);
}
To answer more specifically, you could use named groups to extract what you need:
var match=Regex.Match(
"Super_Confusing-String#w00t0003",
#"(?<prefix>(^.*\D)|^)(?<digits>\d+)$");
if(match.Success)
{
var prefix=match.Groups["prefix"].Value;
Console.WriteLine(prefix);
var val=int.Parse(match.Groups["digits"].Value);
Console.WriteLine(val);
}
If you can assume that the last 5 characters are the number then:
string prefix = "myprefix-";
for (int i=1; i <=23; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(myPrefix+i.ToString("D5"));
}
This function will find the trailing number.
private int FindTrailingNumber(string str)
{
string numString = "";
int numTest;
for (int i = str.Length - 1; i > 0; i--)
{
char c = str[i];
if (int.TryParse(c.ToString(), out numTest))
{
numString = c + numString;
}
}
return int.Parse(numString);
}
Assuming all your base strings are the same, this would iterate between strings.
string s1 = "asdf123";
string s2 = "asdf127";
int num1 = FindTrailingNumber(s1);
int num2 = FindTrailingNumber(s2);
string strBase = s1.Replace(num1.ToString(), "");
for (int i = num1; i <= num2; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(strBase + i.ToString());
}
I think it would be better if you do the search from the last (Rick already upvoted you since it was ur logic :-))
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var s = "IAmAString-00001";
int index = -1;
for (int i = s.Length - 1; i >=0; i--)
{
if (!char.IsDigit(s[i]))
{
index = i;
break;
}
}
if (index == -1)
Console.WriteLine("digits not found");
else
Console.WriteLine("digits: {0}", s.Substring(index));
Console.ReadKey();
}
HTH
If the last X numbers are always digits, then:
int x = 5;
string s = "IAmAString-00001";
int num = int.Parse(s.Substring(s.Length - x, x));
Console.WriteLine("Your Number is: {0}", num);
If the last digits can be 3, 4, or 5 in length, then you will need a little more logic:
int x = 0;
string s = "IAmAString-00001";
foreach (char c in s.Reverse())//Use Reverse() so you start with digits only.
{
if(char.IsDigit(c) == false)
break;//If we start hitting non-digit characters, then exit the loop.
++x;
}
int num = int.Parse(s.Substring(s.Length - x, x));
Console.WriteLine("Your Number is: {0}", num);
I'm not good with complicated RegEx. Because of this, I always shy away from it when maximum optimization is unnecessary. The reason for this is RegEx doesn't always parse strings the way you expect it to. If there is and alternate solution that will still run fast then I'd rather go that route as it's easier for me to understand and know that it will work with any combination of strings.
For Example: if you use some of the other solutions presented here with a string like "I2AmAString-000001", then you will get "2000001" as your number instead of "1".
how can I calculate the number of repetition of character in string in c# ?
example I have sasysays number of repetition of character 's' is 4
Here is a version using LINQ (written using extension methods):
int s = str.Where(c => c == 's').Count();
This uses the fact that string is IEnumerable<char>, so we can filter all characters that are equal to the one you're looking for and then count the number of selected elements. In fact, you can write just this (because the Count method allows you to specify a predicate that should hold for all counted elements):
int s = str.Count(c => c == 's');
Another option is:
int numberOfS = str.Count('s'.Equals);
This is a little backwards - 's' is a char, and every char has an Equals method, which can be used as the argument for Count.
Of course, this is less flexible than c => c == 's' - you cannot trivially change it to a complex condition.
s.Where(c => c == 's').Count()
given s is a string and you are looking for 's'
for(int i=0; i < str.Length; i++) {
if(str[i] == myChar) {
charCount++;
}
}
A more general solution, to count number of occurrences of all characters :
var charFrequencies = new Dictionary<char, int>();
foreach(char c in s)
{
int n;
charFrequencies.TryGetValue(c, out n);
n++;
charFrequencies[c] = n;
}
Console.WriteLine("There are {0} instances of 's' in the string", charFrequencies['s']);
string s = "sasysays ";
List<char> list = s.ToList<char>();
numberOfChar = list.Count<char>(c => c=='s');
Try this code :
namespace Count_char
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string s1 = Convert.ToString(Console.ReadLine());
for (int i = 97; i < 123; i++)
{
string s2 = Convert.ToString(Convert.ToChar(i));
CountStringOccurrences(s1, s2);
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
public static void CountStringOccurrences(string text, string pattern)
{
int count = 0;
int i = 0;
while ((i = text.IndexOf(pattern, i)) != -1)
{
i += pattern.Length;
count++;
}
if (count != 0)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0}-->{1}", pattern, count);
}
}
}
}
I need to parse a decimal integer that appears at the start of a string.
There may be trailing garbage following the decimal number. This needs to be ignored (even if it contains other numbers.)
e.g.
"1" => 1
" 42 " => 42
" 3 -.X.-" => 3
" 2 3 4 5" => 2
Is there a built-in method in the .NET framework to do this?
int.TryParse() is not suitable. It allows trailing spaces but not other trailing characters.
It would be quite easy to implement this but I would prefer to use the standard method if it exists.
You can use Linq to do this, no Regular Expressions needed:
public static int GetLeadingInt(string input)
{
return Int32.Parse(new string(input.Trim().TakeWhile(c => char.IsDigit(c) || c == '.').ToArray()));
}
This works for all your provided examples:
string[] tests = new string[] {
"1",
" 42 ",
" 3 -.X.-",
" 2 3 4 5"
};
foreach (string test in tests)
{
Console.WriteLine("Result: " + GetLeadingInt(test));
}
foreach (var m in Regex.Matches(" 3 - .x. 4", #"\d+"))
{
Console.WriteLine(m);
}
Updated per comments
Not sure why you don't like regular expressions, so I'll just post what I think is the shortest solution.
To get first int:
Match match = Regex.Match(" 3 - .x. - 4", #"\d+");
if (match.Success)
Console.WriteLine(int.Parse(match.Value));
There's no standard .NET method for doing this - although I wouldn't be surprised to find that VB had something in the Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly (which is shipped with .NET, so it's not an issue to use it even from C#).
Will the result always be non-negative (which would make things easier)?
To be honest, regular expressions are the easiest option here, but...
public static string RemoveCruftFromNumber(string text)
{
int end = 0;
// First move past leading spaces
while (end < text.Length && text[end] == ' ')
{
end++;
}
// Now move past digits
while (end < text.Length && char.IsDigit(text[end]))
{
end++;
}
return text.Substring(0, end);
}
Then you just need to call int.TryParse on the result of RemoveCruftFromNumber (don't forget that the integer may be too big to store in an int).
I like #Donut's approach.
I'd like to add though, that char.IsDigit and char.IsNumber also allow for some unicode characters which are digits in other languages and scripts (see here).
If you only want to check for the digits 0 to 9 you could use "0123456789".Contains(c).
Three example implementions:
To remove trailing non-digit characters:
var digits = new string(input.Trim().TakeWhile(c =>
("0123456789").Contains(c)
).ToArray());
To remove leading non-digit characters:
var digits = new string(input.Trim().SkipWhile(c =>
!("0123456789").Contains(c)
).ToArray());
To remove all non-digit characters:
var digits = new string(input.Trim().Where(c =>
("0123456789").Contains(c)
).ToArray());
And of course: int.Parse(digits) or int.TryParse(digits, out output)
This doesn't really answer your question (about a built-in C# method), but you could try chopping off characters at the end of the input string one by one until int.TryParse() accepts it as a valid number:
for (int p = input.Length; p > 0; p--)
{
int num;
if (int.TryParse(input.Substring(0, p), out num))
return num;
}
throw new Exception("Malformed integer: " + input);
Of course, this will be slow if input is very long.
ADDENDUM (March 2016)
This could be made faster by chopping off all non-digit/non-space characters on the right before attempting each parse:
for (int p = input.Length; p > 0; p--)
{
char ch;
do
{
ch = input[--p];
} while ((ch < '0' || ch > '9') && ch != ' ' && p > 0);
p++;
int num;
if (int.TryParse(input.Substring(0, p), out num))
return num;
}
throw new Exception("Malformed integer: " + input);
string s = " 3 -.X.-".Trim();
string collectedNumber = string.empty;
int i;
for (x = 0; x < s.length; x++)
{
if (int.TryParse(s[x], out i))
collectedNumber += s[x];
else
break; // not a number - that's it - get out.
}
if (int.TryParse(collectedNumber, out i))
Console.WriteLine(i);
else
Console.WriteLine("no number found");
This is how I would have done it in Java:
int parseLeadingInt(String input)
{
NumberFormat fmt = NumberFormat.getIntegerInstance();
fmt.setGroupingUsed(false);
return fmt.parse(input, new ParsePosition(0)).intValue();
}
I was hoping something similar would be possible in .NET.
This is the regex-based solution I am currently using:
int? parseLeadingInt(string input)
{
int result = 0;
Match match = Regex.Match(input, "^[ \t]*\\d+");
if (match.Success && int.TryParse(match.Value, out result))
{
return result;
}
return null;
}
Might as well add mine too.
string temp = " 3 .x£";
string numbersOnly = String.Empty;
int tempInt;
for (int i = 0; i < temp.Length; i++)
{
if (Int32.TryParse(Convert.ToString(temp[i]), out tempInt))
{
numbersOnly += temp[i];
}
}
Int32.TryParse(numbersOnly, out tempInt);
MessageBox.Show(tempInt.ToString());
The message box is just for testing purposes, just delete it once you verify the method is working.
I'm not sure why you would avoid Regex in this situation.
Here's a little hackery that you can adjust to your needs.
" 3 -.X.-".ToCharArray().FindInteger().ToList().ForEach(Console.WriteLine);
public static class CharArrayExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<char> FindInteger(this IEnumerable<char> array)
{
foreach (var c in array)
{
if(char.IsNumber(c))
yield return c;
}
}
}
EDIT:
That's true about the incorrect result (and the maintenance dev :) ).
Here's a revision:
public static int FindFirstInteger(this IEnumerable<char> array)
{
bool foundInteger = false;
var ints = new List<char>();
foreach (var c in array)
{
if(char.IsNumber(c))
{
foundInteger = true;
ints.Add(c);
}
else
{
if(foundInteger)
{
break;
}
}
}
string s = string.Empty;
ints.ForEach(i => s += i.ToString());
return int.Parse(s);
}
private string GetInt(string s)
{
int i = 0;
s = s.Trim();
while (i<s.Length && char.IsDigit(s[i])) i++;
return s.Substring(0, i);
}
Similar to Donut's above but with a TryParse:
private static bool TryGetLeadingInt(string input, out int output)
{
var trimmedString = new string(input.Trim().TakeWhile(c => char.IsDigit(c) || c == '.').ToArray());
var canParse = int.TryParse( trimmedString, out output);
return canParse;
}