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C# - Double to String retuns unknown value [duplicate]

How to convert a double into a floating-point string representation without scientific notation in the .NET Framework?
"Small" samples (effective numbers may be of any size, such as 1.5E200 or 1e-200) :
3248971234698200000000000000000000000000000000
0.00000000000000000000000000000000000023897356978234562
None of the standard number formats are like this, and a custom format also doesn't seem to allow having an open number of digits after the decimal separator.
This is not a duplicate of How to convert double to string without the power to 10 representation (E-05) because the answers given there do not solve the issue at hand. The accepted solution in this question was to use a fixed point (such as 20 digits), which is not what I want. A fixed point formatting and trimming the redundant 0 doesn't solve the issue either because the max width for fixed width is 99 characters.
Note: the solution has to deal correctly with custom number formats (e.g. other decimal separator, depending on culture information).
Edit: The question is really only about displaing aforementioned numbers. I'm aware of how floating point numbers work and what numbers can be used and computed with them.

For a general-purpose¹ solution you need to preserve 339 places:
doubleValue.ToString("0." + new string('#', 339))
The maximum number of non-zero decimal digits is 16. 15 are on the right side of the decimal point. The exponent can move those 15 digits a maximum of 324 places to the right. (See the range and precision.)
It works for double.Epsilon, double.MinValue, double.MaxValue, and anything in between.
The performance will be much greater than the regex/string manipulation solutions since all formatting and string work is done in one pass by unmanaged CLR code. Also, the code is much simpler to prove correct.
For ease of use and even better performance, make it a constant:
public static class FormatStrings
{
public const string DoubleFixedPoint = "0.###################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################";
}
¹ Update: I mistakenly said that this was also a lossless solution. In fact it is not, since ToString does its normal display rounding for all formats except r. Live example. Thanks, #Loathing! Please see Lothing’s answer if you need the ability to roundtrip in fixed point notation (i.e, if you’re using .ToString("r") today).

I had a similar problem and this worked for me:
doubleValue.ToString("F99").TrimEnd('0')
F99 may be overkill, but you get the idea.

This is a string parsing solution where the source number (double) is converted into a string and parsed into its constituent components. It is then reassembled by rules into the full-length numeric representation. It also accounts for locale as requested.
Update: The tests of the conversions only include single-digit whole numbers, which is the norm, but the algorithm also works for something like: 239483.340901e-20
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Threading;
public class MyClass
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.23e-2));
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.234e-5)); // 0.00010234
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.2345E-10)); // 0.00000001002345
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.23456E-20)); // 0.00000000000000000100023456
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(5E-20));
Console.WriteLine("");
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.23E+2)); // 123
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.234e5)); // 1023400
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.2345E10)); // 1002345000000
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(-7.576E-05)); // -0.00007576
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(1.23456e20));
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(5e+20));
Console.WriteLine("");
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(9.1093822E-31)); // mass of an electron
Console.WriteLine(ToLongString(5.9736e24)); // mass of the earth
Console.ReadLine();
}
private static string ToLongString(double input)
{
string strOrig = input.ToString();
string str = strOrig.ToUpper();
// if string representation was collapsed from scientific notation, just return it:
if (!str.Contains("E")) return strOrig;
bool negativeNumber = false;
if (str[0] == '-')
{
str = str.Remove(0, 1);
negativeNumber = true;
}
string sep = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator;
char decSeparator = sep.ToCharArray()[0];
string[] exponentParts = str.Split('E');
string[] decimalParts = exponentParts[0].Split(decSeparator);
// fix missing decimal point:
if (decimalParts.Length==1) decimalParts = new string[]{exponentParts[0],"0"};
int exponentValue = int.Parse(exponentParts[1]);
string newNumber = decimalParts[0] + decimalParts[1];
string result;
if (exponentValue > 0)
{
result =
newNumber +
GetZeros(exponentValue - decimalParts[1].Length);
}
else // negative exponent
{
result =
"0" +
decSeparator +
GetZeros(exponentValue + decimalParts[0].Length) +
newNumber;
result = result.TrimEnd('0');
}
if (negativeNumber)
result = "-" + result;
return result;
}
private static string GetZeros(int zeroCount)
{
if (zeroCount < 0)
zeroCount = Math.Abs(zeroCount);
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = 0; i < zeroCount; i++) sb.Append("0");
return sb.ToString();
}
}

You could cast the double to decimal and then do ToString().
(0.000000005).ToString() // 5E-09
((decimal)(0.000000005)).ToString() // 0,000000005
I haven't done performance testing which is faster, casting from 64-bit double to 128-bit decimal or a format string of over 300 chars. Oh, and there might possibly be overflow errors during conversion, but if your values fit a decimal this should work fine.
Update: The casting seems to be a lot faster. Using a prepared format string as given in the other answer, formatting a million times takes 2.3 seconds and casting only 0.19 seconds. Repeatable. That's 10x faster. Now it's only about the value range.

This is what I've got so far, seems to work, but maybe someone has a better solution:
private static readonly Regex rxScientific = new Regex(#"^(?<sign>-?)(?<head>\d+)(\.(?<tail>\d*?)0*)?E(?<exponent>[+\-]\d+)$", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase|RegexOptions.ExplicitCapture|RegexOptions.CultureInvariant);
public static string ToFloatingPointString(double value) {
return ToFloatingPointString(value, NumberFormatInfo.CurrentInfo);
}
public static string ToFloatingPointString(double value, NumberFormatInfo formatInfo) {
string result = value.ToString("r", NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
Match match = rxScientific.Match(result);
if (match.Success) {
Debug.WriteLine("Found scientific format: {0} => [{1}] [{2}] [{3}] [{4}]", result, match.Groups["sign"], match.Groups["head"], match.Groups["tail"], match.Groups["exponent"]);
int exponent = int.Parse(match.Groups["exponent"].Value, NumberStyles.Integer, NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(result.Length+Math.Abs(exponent));
builder.Append(match.Groups["sign"].Value);
if (exponent >= 0) {
builder.Append(match.Groups["head"].Value);
string tail = match.Groups["tail"].Value;
if (exponent < tail.Length) {
builder.Append(tail, 0, exponent);
builder.Append(formatInfo.NumberDecimalSeparator);
builder.Append(tail, exponent, tail.Length-exponent);
} else {
builder.Append(tail);
builder.Append('0', exponent-tail.Length);
}
} else {
builder.Append('0');
builder.Append(formatInfo.NumberDecimalSeparator);
builder.Append('0', (-exponent)-1);
builder.Append(match.Groups["head"].Value);
builder.Append(match.Groups["tail"].Value);
}
result = builder.ToString();
}
return result;
}
// test code
double x = 1.0;
for (int i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
x /= 10;
}
Console.WriteLine(x);
Console.WriteLine(ToFloatingPointString(x));

The problem using #.###...### or F99 is that it doesn't preserve precision at the ending decimal places, e.g:
String t1 = (0.0001/7).ToString("0." + new string('#', 339)); // 0.0000142857142857143
String t2 = (0.0001/7).ToString("r"); // 1.4285714285714287E-05
The problem with DecimalConverter.cs is that it is slow. This code is the same idea as Sasik's answer, but twice as fast. Unit test method at bottom.
public static class RoundTrip {
private static String[] zeros = new String[1000];
static RoundTrip() {
for (int i = 0; i < zeros.Length; i++) {
zeros[i] = new String('0', i);
}
}
private static String ToRoundTrip(double value) {
String str = value.ToString("r");
int x = str.IndexOf('E');
if (x < 0) return str;
int x1 = x + 1;
String exp = str.Substring(x1, str.Length - x1);
int e = int.Parse(exp);
String s = null;
int numDecimals = 0;
if (value < 0) {
int len = x - 3;
if (e >= 0) {
if (len > 0) {
s = str.Substring(0, 2) + str.Substring(3, len);
numDecimals = len;
}
else
s = str.Substring(0, 2);
}
else {
// remove the leading minus sign
if (len > 0) {
s = str.Substring(1, 1) + str.Substring(3, len);
numDecimals = len;
}
else
s = str.Substring(1, 1);
}
}
else {
int len = x - 2;
if (len > 0) {
s = str[0] + str.Substring(2, len);
numDecimals = len;
}
else
s = str[0].ToString();
}
if (e >= 0) {
e = e - numDecimals;
String z = (e < zeros.Length ? zeros[e] : new String('0', e));
s = s + z;
}
else {
e = (-e - 1);
String z = (e < zeros.Length ? zeros[e] : new String('0', e));
if (value < 0)
s = "-0." + z + s;
else
s = "0." + z + s;
}
return s;
}
private static void RoundTripUnitTest() {
StringBuilder sb33 = new StringBuilder();
double[] values = new [] { 123450000000000000.0, 1.0 / 7, 10000000000.0/7, 100000000000000000.0/7, 0.001/7, 0.0001/7, 100000000000000000.0, 0.00000000001,
1.23e-2, 1.234e-5, 1.2345E-10, 1.23456E-20, 5E-20, 1.23E+2, 1.234e5, 1.2345E10, -7.576E-05, 1.23456e20, 5e+20, 9.1093822E-31, 5.9736e24, double.Epsilon };
foreach (int sign in new [] { 1, -1 }) {
foreach (double val in values) {
double val2 = sign * val;
String s1 = val2.ToString("r");
String s2 = ToRoundTrip(val2);
double val2_ = double.Parse(s2);
double diff = Math.Abs(val2 - val2_);
if (diff != 0) {
throw new Exception("Value {0} did not pass ToRoundTrip.".Format2(val.ToString("r")));
}
sb33.AppendLine(s1);
sb33.AppendLine(s2);
sb33.AppendLine();
}
}
}
}

The obligatory Logarithm-based solution. Note that this solution, because it involves doing math, may reduce the accuracy of your number a little bit. Not heavily tested.
private static string DoubleToLongString(double x)
{
int shift = (int)Math.Log10(x);
if (Math.Abs(shift) <= 2)
{
return x.ToString();
}
if (shift < 0)
{
double y = x * Math.Pow(10, -shift);
return "0.".PadRight(-shift + 2, '0') + y.ToString().Substring(2);
}
else
{
double y = x * Math.Pow(10, 2 - shift);
return y + "".PadRight(shift - 2, '0');
}
}
Edit: If the decimal point crosses non-zero part of the number, this algorithm will fail miserably. I tried for simple and went too far.

In the old days when we had to write our own formatters, we'd isolate the mantissa and exponent and format them separately.
In this article by Jon Skeet (https://csharpindepth.com/articles/FloatingPoint) he provides a link to his DoubleConverter.cs routine that should do exactly what you want. Skeet also refers to this at extracting mantissa and exponent from double in c#.

I have just improvised on the code above to make it work for negative exponential values.
using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
namespace ConvertNumbersInScientificNotationToPlainNumbers
{
class Program
{
private static string ToLongString(double input)
{
string str = input.ToString(System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
// if string representation was collapsed from scientific notation, just return it:
if (!str.Contains("E")) return str;
var positive = true;
if (input < 0)
{
positive = false;
}
string sep = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator;
char decSeparator = sep.ToCharArray()[0];
string[] exponentParts = str.Split('E');
string[] decimalParts = exponentParts[0].Split(decSeparator);
// fix missing decimal point:
if (decimalParts.Length == 1) decimalParts = new string[] { exponentParts[0], "0" };
int exponentValue = int.Parse(exponentParts[1]);
string newNumber = decimalParts[0].Replace("-", "").
Replace("+", "") + decimalParts[1];
string result;
if (exponentValue > 0)
{
if (positive)
result =
newNumber +
GetZeros(exponentValue - decimalParts[1].Length);
else
result = "-" +
newNumber +
GetZeros(exponentValue - decimalParts[1].Length);
}
else // negative exponent
{
if (positive)
result =
"0" +
decSeparator +
GetZeros(exponentValue + decimalParts[0].Replace("-", "").
Replace("+", "").Length) + newNumber;
else
result =
"-0" +
decSeparator +
GetZeros(exponentValue + decimalParts[0].Replace("-", "").
Replace("+", "").Length) + newNumber;
result = result.TrimEnd('0');
}
float temp = 0.00F;
if (float.TryParse(result, out temp))
{
return result;
}
throw new Exception();
}
private static string GetZeros(int zeroCount)
{
if (zeroCount < 0)
zeroCount = Math.Abs(zeroCount);
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = 0; i < zeroCount; i++) sb.Append("0");
return sb.ToString();
}
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Get Input Directory.
Console.WriteLine(#"Enter the Input Directory");
var readLine = Console.ReadLine();
if (readLine == null)
{
Console.WriteLine(#"Enter the input path properly.");
return;
}
var pathToInputDirectory = readLine.Trim();
//Get Output Directory.
Console.WriteLine(#"Enter the Output Directory");
readLine = Console.ReadLine();
if (readLine == null)
{
Console.WriteLine(#"Enter the output path properly.");
return;
}
var pathToOutputDirectory = readLine.Trim();
//Get Delimiter.
Console.WriteLine("Enter the delimiter;");
var columnDelimiter = (char)Console.Read();
//Loop over all files in the directory.
foreach (var inputFileName in Directory.GetFiles(pathToInputDirectory))
{
var outputFileWithouthNumbersInScientificNotation = string.Empty;
Console.WriteLine("Started operation on File : " + inputFileName);
if (File.Exists(inputFileName))
{
// Read the file
using (var file = new StreamReader(inputFileName))
{
string line;
while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
{
String[] columns = line.Split(columnDelimiter);
var duplicateLine = string.Empty;
int lengthOfColumns = columns.Length;
int counter = 1;
foreach (var column in columns)
{
var columnDuplicate = column;
try
{
if (Regex.IsMatch(columnDuplicate.Trim(),
#"^[+-]?[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?[E]([+-]?[0-9]+)$",
RegexOptions.IgnoreCase))
{
Console.WriteLine("Regular expression matched for this :" + column);
columnDuplicate = ToLongString(Double.Parse
(column,
System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Float));
Console.WriteLine("Converted this no in scientific notation " +
"" + column + " to this number " +
columnDuplicate);
}
}
catch (Exception)
{
}
duplicateLine = duplicateLine + columnDuplicate;
if (counter != lengthOfColumns)
{
duplicateLine = duplicateLine + columnDelimiter.ToString();
}
counter++;
}
duplicateLine = duplicateLine + Environment.NewLine;
outputFileWithouthNumbersInScientificNotation = outputFileWithouthNumbersInScientificNotation + duplicateLine;
}
file.Close();
}
var outputFilePathWithoutNumbersInScientificNotation
= Path.Combine(pathToOutputDirectory, Path.GetFileName(inputFileName));
//Create Directory If it does not exist.
if (!Directory.Exists(pathToOutputDirectory))
Directory.CreateDirectory(pathToOutputDirectory);
using (var outputFile =
new StreamWriter(outputFilePathWithoutNumbersInScientificNotation))
{
outputFile.Write(outputFileWithouthNumbersInScientificNotation);
outputFile.Close();
}
Console.WriteLine("The transformed file is here :" +
outputFilePathWithoutNumbersInScientificNotation);
}
}
}
}
}
This code takes an input directory and based on the delimiter converts all values in scientific notation to numeric format.
Thanks

try this one:
public static string DoubleToFullString(double value,
NumberFormatInfo formatInfo)
{
string[] valueExpSplit;
string result, decimalSeparator;
int indexOfDecimalSeparator, exp;
valueExpSplit = value.ToString("r", formatInfo)
.ToUpper()
.Split(new char[] { 'E' });
if (valueExpSplit.Length > 1)
{
result = valueExpSplit[0];
exp = int.Parse(valueExpSplit[1]);
decimalSeparator = formatInfo.NumberDecimalSeparator;
if ((indexOfDecimalSeparator
= valueExpSplit[0].IndexOf(decimalSeparator)) > -1)
{
exp -= (result.Length - indexOfDecimalSeparator - 1);
result = result.Replace(decimalSeparator, "");
}
if (exp >= 0) result += new string('0', Math.Abs(exp));
else
{
exp = Math.Abs(exp);
if (exp >= result.Length)
{
result = "0." + new string('0', exp - result.Length)
+ result;
}
else
{
result = result.Insert(result.Length - exp, decimalSeparator);
}
}
}
else result = valueExpSplit[0];
return result;
}

Being millions of programmers world wide, it's always a good practice to try search if someone has bumped into your problem already. Sometimes there's solutions are garbage, which means it's time to write your own, and sometimes there are great, such as the following:
http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/csharp/DoubleConverter.cs
(details: http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/csharp/floatingpoint.html)

string strdScaleFactor = dScaleFactor.ToString(); // where dScaleFactor = 3.531467E-05
decimal decimalScaleFactor = Decimal.Parse(strdScaleFactor, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Float);

I don't know if my answer to the question can still be helpful. But in this case I suggest the "decomposition of the double variable into decimal places" to store it in an Array / Array of data of type String.
This process of decomposition and storage in parts (number by number) from double to string, would basically work with the use of two loops and an "alternative" (if you thought of workaround, I think you got it), where the first loop will extract the values from double without converting to String, resulting in blessed scientific notation and storing number by number in an Array. And this will be done using MOD - the same method to check a palindrome number, which would be for example:
String[] Array_ = new double[ **here you will put an extreme value of places your DOUBLE can reach, you must have a prediction**];
for (int i = 0, variableDoubleMonstrous > 0, i++){
x = variableDoubleMonstrous %10;
Array_[i] = x;
variableDoubleMonstrous /= 10;
}
And the second loop to invert the Array values ​​(because in this process of checking a palindrome, the values ​​invert from the last place, to the first, from the penultimate to the second and so on. Remember?) to get the original value:
String[] ArrayFinal = new String[the same number of "places" / indices of the other Array / Data array];
int lengthArray = Array_.Length;
for (int i = 0, i < Array_.Length, i++){
FinalArray[i] = Array_[lengthArray - 1];
lengthArray--;
}
***Warning: There's a catch that I didn't pay attention to. In that case there will be no "." (floating point decimal separator or double), so this solution is not generalized. But if it is really important to use decimal separators, unfortunately the only possibility (If done well, it will have a great performance) is:
**Use a routine to get the position of the decimal point of the original value, the one with scientific notation - the important thing is that you know that this floating point is before a number such as the "Length" position x, and after a number such as the y position - extracting each digit using the loops - as shown above - and at the end "export" the data from the last Array to another one, including the decimal place divider (the comma, or the period , if variable decimal, double or float) in the imaginary position that was in the original variable, in the "real" position of that matrix.
*** The concept of position is, find out how many numbers occur before the decimal point, so with this information you will be able to store in the String Array the point in the real position.
NEEDS THAT CAN BE MADE:
But then you ask:
But what about when I'm going to convert String to a floating point value?
My answer is that you use the second matrix of this entire process (the one that receives the inversion of the first matrix that obtains the numbers by the palindrome method) and use it for the conversion, but always making sure, when necessary, of the position of the decimal place in future situations, in case this conversion (Double -> String) is needed again.
But what if the problem is to use the value of the converted Double (Array of Strings) in a calculation. Then in this case you went around in circles. Well, the original variable will work anyway even with scientific notation. The only difference between floating point and decimal variable types is in the rounding of values, which depending on the purpose, it will only be necessary to change the type of data used, but it is dangerous to have a significant loss of information, look here

I could be wrong, but isn't it like this?
data.ToString("n");
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dwhawy9k.aspx

i think you need only to use IFormat with
ToString(doubleVar, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Number)
example:
double d = double.MaxValue;
string s = d.ToString(d, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Number);

My solution was using the custom formats.
try this:
double d;
d = 1234.12341234;
d.ToString("#########0.#########");

Just to build on what jcasso said what you can do is to adjust your double value by changing the exponent so that your favorite format would do it for you, apply the format, and than pad the result with zeros to compensate for the adjustment.

This works fine for me...
double number = 1.5E+200;
string s = number.ToString("#");
//Output: "150000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"

C# Console Word Wrap

I have a string with newline characters and I want to wrap the words. I want to keep the newline characters so that when I display the text it looks like separate paragraphs. Anyone have a good function to do this? Current function and code below.(not my own function). The WordWrap function seems to be stripping out \n characters.
static void Main(string[] args){
StreamReader streamReader = new StreamReader("E:/Adventure Story/Intro.txt");
string intro = "";
string line;
while ((line = streamReader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
intro += line;
if(line == "")
{
intro += "\n\n";
}
}
WordWrap(intro);
public static void WordWrap(string paragraph)
{
paragraph = new Regex(#" {2,}").Replace(paragraph.Trim(), #" ");
var left = Console.CursorLeft; var top = Console.CursorTop; var lines = new List<string>();
for (var i = 0; paragraph.Length > 0; i++)
{
lines.Add(paragraph.Substring(0, Math.Min(Console.WindowWidth, paragraph.Length)));
var length = lines[i].LastIndexOf(" ", StringComparison.Ordinal);
if (length > 0) lines[i] = lines[i].Remove(length);
paragraph = paragraph.Substring(Math.Min(lines[i].Length + 1, paragraph.Length));
Console.SetCursorPosition(left, top + i); Console.WriteLine(lines[i]);
}
}

Here is a word wrap function that works by using regular expressions to find the places that it's ok to break and places where it must break. Then it returns pieces of the original text based on the "break zones". It even allows for breaks at hyphens (and other characters) without removing the hyphens (since the regex uses a zero-width positive lookbehind assertion).
IEnumerable<string> WordWrap(string text, int width)
{
const string forcedBreakZonePattern = #"\n";
const string normalBreakZonePattern = #"\s+|(?<=[-,.;])|$";
var forcedZones = Regex.Matches(text, forcedBreakZonePattern).Cast<Match>().ToList();
var normalZones = Regex.Matches(text, normalBreakZonePattern).Cast<Match>().ToList();
int start = 0;
while (start < text.Length)
{
var zone =
forcedZones.Find(z => z.Index >= start && z.Index <= start + width) ??
normalZones.FindLast(z => z.Index >= start && z.Index <= start + width);
if (zone == null)
{
yield return text.Substring(start, width);
start += width;
}
else
{
yield return text.Substring(start, zone.Index - start);
start = zone.Index + zone.Length;
}
}
}

If you want another newline to make text look-like paragraphs, just use Replace method of your String object.
var str =
"Line 1\n" +
"Line 2\n" +
"Line 3\n";
Console.WriteLine("Before:\n" + str);
str = str.Replace("\n", "\n\n");
Console.WriteLine("After:\n" + str);

Recently I've been working on creating some abstractions that imitate window-like features in a performance- and memory-sensitive console context.
To this end I had to implement word-wrapping functionality without any unnecessary string allocations.
The following is what I managed to simplify it into. This method:
preserves new-lines in the input string,
allows you to specify what characters it should break on (space, hyphen, etc.),
returns the start indices and lengths of the lines via Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives.StringSegment struct instances (but it's very simple to replace this struct with your own, or append directly to a StringBuilder).
public static IEnumerable<StringSegment> WordWrap(string input, int maxLineLength, char[] breakableCharacters)
{
int lastBreakIndex = 0;
while (true)
{
var nextForcedLineBreak = lastBreakIndex + maxLineLength;
// If the remainder is shorter than the allowed line-length, return the remainder. Short-circuits instantly for strings shorter than line-length.
if (nextForcedLineBreak >= input.Length)
{
yield return new StringSegment(input, lastBreakIndex, input.Length - lastBreakIndex);
yield break;
}
// If there are native new lines before the next forced break position, use the last native new line as the starting position of our next line.
int nativeNewlineIndex = input.LastIndexOf(Environment.NewLine, nextForcedLineBreak, maxLineLength);
if (nativeNewlineIndex > -1)
{
nextForcedLineBreak = nativeNewlineIndex + Environment.NewLine.Length + maxLineLength;
}
// Find the last breakable point preceding the next forced break position (and include the breakable character, which might be a hypen).
var nextBreakIndex = input.LastIndexOfAny(breakableCharacters, nextForcedLineBreak, maxLineLength) + 1;
// If there is no breakable point, which means a word is longer than line length, force-break it.
if (nextBreakIndex == 0)
{
nextBreakIndex = nextForcedLineBreak;
}
yield return new StringSegment(input, lastBreakIndex, nextBreakIndex - lastBreakIndex);
lastBreakIndex = nextBreakIndex;
}
}

How do you perform string replacement on just a subsection of a string?

I'd like an efficient method that would work something like this
EDIT: Sorry I didn't put what I'd tried before. I updated the example now.
// Method signature, Only replaces first instance or how many are specified in max
public int MyReplace(ref string source,string org, string replace, int start, int max)
{
int ret = 0;
int len = replace.Length;
int olen = org.Length;
for(int i = 0; i < max; i++)
{
// Find the next instance of the search string
int x = source.IndexOf(org, ret + olen);
if(x > ret)
ret = x;
else
break;
// Insert the replacement
source = source.Insert(x, replace);
// And remove the original
source = source.Remove(x + len, olen); // removes original string
}
return ret;
}
string source = "The cat can fly but only if he is the cat in the hat";
int i = MyReplace(ref source,"cat", "giraffe", 8, 1);
// Results in the string "The cat can fly but only if he is the giraffe in the hat"
// i contains the index of the first letter of "giraffe" in the new string
The only reason I'm asking is because my implementation I'd imagine getting slow with 1,000s of replaces.

How about:
public static int MyReplace(ref string source,
string org, string replace, int start, int max)
{
if (start < 0) throw new System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException("start");
if (max <= 0) return 0;
start = source.IndexOf(org, start);
if (start < 0) return 0;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(source, 0, start, source.Length);
int found = 0;
while (max-- > 0) {
int index = source.IndexOf(org, start);
if (index < 0) break;
sb.Append(source, start, index - start).Append(replace);
start = index + org.Length;
found++;
}
sb.Append(source, start, source.Length - start);
source = sb.ToString();
return found;
}
it uses StringBuilder to avoid lots of intermediate strings; I haven't tested it rigorously, but it seems to work. It also tries to avoid an extra string when there are no matches.

To start, try something like this:
int count = 0;
Regex.Replace(source, Regex.Escape(literal), (match) =>
{
return (count++ > something) ? "new value" : match.Value;
});

To replace only the first match:
private string ReplaceFirst(string source, string oldString, string newString)
{
var index = source.IndexOf(oldString);
var begin = source.Substring(0, index);
var end = source.Substring(index + oldString.Length);
return begin + newString + end;
}

You have a bug in that you will miss the item to replace if it is in the beginning.
change these lines;
int ret = start; // instead of zero, or you ignore the start parameter
// Find the next instance of the search string
// Do not skip olen for the first search!
int x = i == 0 ? source.IndexOf(org, ret) : source.IndexOf(org, ret + olen);
Also your routine does 300 thousand replaces a second on my machine. Are you sure this will be a bottleneck?
And just found that your code also has an issue if you replace larger texts by smaller texts.

This code is 100% faster if you have four replaces and around 10% faster with one replacement (faster when compared with the posted original code). It uses the specified start parameter and works when replacing larger texts by smaller texts.
Mark Gravells solution is (no offense ;-) 60% slower as the original code and it also returns another value.
// Method signature, Only replaces first instance or how many are specified in max
public static int MyReplace(ref string source, string org, string replace, int start, int max)
{
var ret = 0;
int x = start;
int reps = 0;
int l = source.Length;
int lastIdx = 0;
string repstring = "";
while (x < l)
{
if ((source[x] == org[0]) && (reps < max) && (x >= start))
{
bool match = true;
for (int y = 1; y < org.Length; y++)
{
if (source[x + y] != org[y])
{
match = false;
break;
}
}
if (match)
{
repstring += source.Substring(lastIdx, x - lastIdx) + replace;
ret = x;
x += org.Length - 1;
reps++;
lastIdx = x + 1;
// Done?
if (reps == max)
{
source = repstring + source.Substring(lastIdx);
return ret;
}
}
}
x++;
}
if (ret > 0)
{
source = repstring + source.Substring(lastIdx);
}
return ret;
}

Divide long string into 60 character long lines but don't break words

There has to be a better way to do this.
I just want to split long string into 60 character lines but do not break words. So it doesn't have to add up to 60 characters just has to be less than 60.
The code below is what I have and it works but I'm thinking there's a better way. Anybody?
Modified to use StringBuilder and fixed the problem of removing a repeating word.
Also don't want to use regex because I think that would be less efficient than what I have now.
public static List<String> FormatMe(String Message)
{
Int32 MAX_WIDTH = 60;
List<String> Line = new List<String>();
String[] Words;
Message = Message.Trim();
Words = Message.Split(" ".ToCharArray());
StringBuilder s = new StringBuilder();
foreach (String Word in Words)
{
s.Append(Word + " ");
if (s.Length > MAX_WIDTH)
{
s.Replace(Word, "", 0, s.Length - Word.Length);
Line.Add(s.ToString().Trim());
s = new StringBuilder(Word + " ");
}
}
if (s.Length > 0)
Line.Add(s.ToString().Trim());
return Line;
}
Thanks

Another (now TESTED) sample, very similiar to Keith approach:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const Int32 MAX_WIDTH = 60;
int offset = 0;
string text = Regex.Replace(File.ReadAllText("oneline.txt"), #"\s{2,}", " ");
List<string> lines = new List<string>();
while (offset < text.Length)
{
int index = text.LastIndexOf(" ",
Math.Min(text.Length, offset + MAX_WIDTH));
string line = text.Substring(offset,
(index - offset <= 0 ? text.Length : index) - offset );
offset += line.Length + 1;
lines.Add(line);
}
}
I ran that on this file with all line breaks manually replaced by " ".

Try this:
const Int32 MAX_WIDTH = 60;
string text = "...";
List<string> lines = new List<string>();
StringBuilder line = new StringBuilder();
foreach(Match word in Regex.Matches(text, #"\S+", RegexOptions.ECMAScript))
{
if (word.Value.Length + line.Length + 1 > MAX_WIDTH)
{
lines.Add(line.ToString());
line.Length = 0;
}
line.Append(String.Format("{0} ", word.Value));
}
if (line.Length > 0)
line.Append(word.Value);
Please, also check this out: How do I use a regular expression to add linefeeds?

Inside a Regular expression, the Match Evaluator function (an anonymous method) does the grunt work and stores the newly sized lines into a StringBuilder. We don't use the return value of Regex.Replace method because we're just using its Match Evaluator function as a feature to accomplish line breaking from inside the regular expression call - just for the heck of it, because I think it's cool.
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
strInput is what you want to convert the lines of.
int MAX_LEN = 60;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
int bmark = 0; //bookmark position
Regex.Replace(strInput, #".*?\b\w+\b.*?",
delegate(Match m) {
if (m.Index - bmark + m.Length + m.NextMatch().Length > MAX_LEN
|| m.Index == bmark && m.Length >= MAX_LEN) {
sb.Append(strInput.Substring(bmark, m.Index - bmark + m.Length).Trim() + Environment.NewLine);
bmark = m.Index + m.Length;
} return null;
}, RegexOptions.Singleline);
if (bmark != strInput.Length) // last portion
sb.Append(strInput.Substring(bmark));
string strModified = sb.ToString(); // get the real string from builder
It's also worth noting the second condition in the if expression in the Match Evaluator m.Index == bmark && m.Length >= MAX_LEN is meant as an exceptional condition in case there is a word longer than 60 chars (or longer than the set max length) - it will not be broken down here but just stored on one line by itself - I guess you might want to create a second formula for that condition in the real world to hyphenate it or something.

An other one ...
public static string SplitLongWords(string text, int maxWordLength)
{
var reg = new Regex(#"\S{" + (maxWordLength + 1) + ",}");
bool replaced;
do
{
replaced = false;
text = reg.Replace(text, (m) =>
{
replaced = true;
return m.Value.Insert(maxWordLength, " ");
});
} while (replaced);
return text;
}

I would start with saving the length of the original string. Then, start backwards, and just subtract, since odds are that I would get below 60 faster by starting at the last word and going back than building up.
Once I know how long, then just use StringBuilder and build up the string for the new string.

List<string> lines = new List<string>();
while (message.Length > 60) {
int idx = message.LastIndexOf(' ', 60);
lines.Add(message.Substring(0, idx));
message = message.Substring(idx + 1, message.Length - (idx + 1));
}
lines.Add(message);
You might need to modify a bit to handle multiple spaces, words with >60 chars in them, ...

I tried the original solution and found that it didn't quite work. I've modified it slightly to make it work. It now works for me and solves a problem I had. Thanks.
Jim.
public static List<String> FormatMe(String message)
{
int maxLength = 10;
List<String> Line = new List<String>();
String[] words;
message = message.Trim();
words = message.Split(" ".ToCharArray());
StringBuilder sentence = new StringBuilder();
foreach (String word in words)
{
if((sentence.Length + word.Length) <= maxLength)
{
sentence.Append(word + " ");
}
else
{
Line.Add(sentence.ToString().Trim());
sentence = new StringBuilder(word + " ");
}
}
if (sentence.Length > 0)
Line.Add(sentence.ToString().Trim());
return Line;
}
private void btnSplitText_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
List<String> Line = new List<string>();
string message = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.";
Line = FormatMe(message);
}

How do I extract text that lies between parentheses (round brackets)?

I have a string User name (sales) and I want to extract the text between the brackets, how would I do this?
I suspect sub-string but I can't work out how to read until the closing bracket, the length of text will vary.

If you wish to stay away from regular expressions, the simplest way I can think of is:
string input = "User name (sales)";
string output = input.Split('(', ')')[1];

A very simple way to do it is by using regular expressions:
Regex.Match("User name (sales)", #"\(([^)]*)\)").Groups[1].Value
As a response to the (very funny) comment, here's the same Regex with some explanation:
\( # Escaped parenthesis, means "starts with a '(' character"
( # Parentheses in a regex mean "put (capture) the stuff
# in between into the Groups array"
[^)] # Any character that is not a ')' character
* # Zero or more occurrences of the aforementioned "non ')' char"
) # Close the capturing group
\) # "Ends with a ')' character"

Assuming that you only have one pair of parenthesis.
string s = "User name (sales)";
int start = s.IndexOf("(") + 1;
int end = s.IndexOf(")", start);
string result = s.Substring(start, end - start);

Use this function:
public string GetSubstringByString(string a, string b, string c)
{
return c.Substring((c.IndexOf(a) + a.Length), (c.IndexOf(b) - c.IndexOf(a) - a.Length));
}
and here is the usage:
GetSubstringByString("(", ")", "User name (sales)")
and the output would be:
sales

Regular expressions might be the best tool here. If you are not famililar with them, I recommend you install Expresso - a great little regex tool.
Something like:
Regex regex = new Regex("\\((?<TextInsideBrackets>\\w+)\\)");
string incomingValue = "Username (sales)";
string insideBrackets = null;
Match match = regex.Match(incomingValue);
if(match.Success)
{
insideBrackets = match.Groups["TextInsideBrackets"].Value;
}

string input = "User name (sales)";
string output = input.Substring(input.IndexOf('(') + 1, input.IndexOf(')') - input.IndexOf('(') - 1);

A regex maybe? I think this would work...
\(([a-z]+?)\)

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
private IEnumerable<string> GetSubStrings(string input, string start, string end)
{
Regex r = new Regex(Regex.Escape(start) +`"(.*?)"` + Regex.Escape(end));
MatchCollection matches = r.Matches(input);
foreach (Match match in matches)
yield return match.Groups[1].Value;
}

int start = input.IndexOf("(") + 1;
int length = input.IndexOf(")") - start;
output = input.Substring(start, length);

Use a Regular Expression:
string test = "(test)";
string word = Regex.Match(test, #"\((\w+)\)").Groups[1].Value;
Console.WriteLine(word);

input.Remove(input.IndexOf(')')).Substring(input.IndexOf('(') + 1);

The regex method is superior I think, but if you wanted to use the humble substring
string input= "my name is (Jayne C)";
int start = input.IndexOf("(");
int stop = input.IndexOf(")");
string output = input.Substring(start+1, stop - start - 1);
or
string input = "my name is (Jayne C)";
string output = input.Substring(input.IndexOf("(") +1, input.IndexOf(")")- input.IndexOf("(")- 1);

var input = "12(34)1(12)(14)234";
var output = "";
for (int i = 0; i < input.Length; i++)
{
if (input[i] == '(')
{
var start = i + 1;
var end = input.IndexOf(')', i + 1);
output += input.Substring(start, end - start) + ",";
}
}
if (output.Length > 0) // remove last comma
output = output.Remove(output.Length - 1);
output : "34,12,14"

Here is a general purpose readable function that avoids using regex:
// Returns the text between 'start' and 'end'.
string ExtractBetween(string text, string start, string end)
{
int iStart = text.IndexOf(start);
iStart = (iStart == -1) ? 0 : iStart + start.Length;
int iEnd = text.LastIndexOf(end);
if(iEnd == -1)
{
iEnd = text.Length;
}
int len = iEnd - iStart;
return text.Substring(iStart, len);
}
To call it in your particular example you can do:
string result = ExtractBetween("User name (sales)", "(", ")");

I'm finding that regular expressions are extremely useful but very difficult to write. So, I did some research and found this tool that makes writing them so easy.
Don't shy away from them because the syntax is difficult to figure out. They can be so powerful.

This code is faster than most solutions here (if not all), packed as String extension method, it does not support recursive nesting:
public static string GetNestedString(this string str, char start, char end)
{
int s = -1;
int i = -1;
while (++i < str.Length)
if (str[i] == start)
{
s = i;
break;
}
int e = -1;
while(++i < str.Length)
if (str[i] == end)
{
e = i;
break;
}
if (e > s)
return str.Substring(s + 1, e - s - 1);
return null;
}
This one is little longer and slower, but it handles recursive nesting more nicely:
public static string GetNestedString(this string str, char start, char end)
{
int s = -1;
int i = -1;
while (++i < str.Length)
if (str[i] == start)
{
s = i;
break;
}
int e = -1;
int depth = 0;
while (++i < str.Length)
if (str[i] == end)
{
e = i;
if (depth == 0)
break;
else
--depth;
}
else if (str[i] == start)
++depth;
if (e > s)
return str.Substring(s + 1, e - s - 1);
return null;
}

I've been using and abusing C#9 recently and I can't help throwing in Spans even in questionable scenarios... Just for the fun of it, here's a variation on the answers above:
var input = "User name (sales)";
var txtSpan = input.AsSpan();
var startPoint = txtSpan.IndexOf('(') + 1;
var length = txtSpan.LastIndexOf(')') - startPoint;
var output = txtSpan.Slice(startPoint, length);
For the OP's specific scenario, it produces the right output.
(Personally, I'd use RegEx, as posted by others. It's easier to get around the more tricky scenarios where the solution above falls apart).
A better version (as extension method) I made for my own project:
//Note: This only captures the first occurrence, but
//can be easily modified to scan across the text (I'd prefer Slicing a Span)
public static string ExtractFromBetweenChars(this string txt, char openChar, char closeChar)
{
ReadOnlySpan<char> span = txt.AsSpan();
int firstCharPos = span.IndexOf(openChar);
int lastCharPos = -1;
if (firstCharPos != -1)
{
for (int n = firstCharPos + 1; n < span.Length; n++)
{
if (span[n] == openChar) firstCharPos = n; //This allows the opening char position to change
if (span[n] == closeChar) lastCharPos = n;
if (lastCharPos > firstCharPos) break;
//This would correctly extract "sales" from this [contrived]
//example: "just (a (name (sales) )))(test"
}
return span.Slice(firstCharPos + 1, lastCharPos - firstCharPos - 1).ToString();
}
return "";
}

Much similar to #Gustavo Baiocchi Costa but offset is being calculated with another intermediate Substring.
int innerTextStart = input.IndexOf("(") + 1;
int innerTextLength = input.Substring(start).IndexOf(")");
string output = input.Substring(innerTextStart, innerTextLength);

I came across this while I was looking for a solution to a very similar implementation.
Here is a snippet from my actual code. Starts substring from the first char (index 0).
string separator = "\n"; //line terminator
string output;
string input= "HowAreYou?\nLets go there!";
output = input.Substring(0, input.IndexOf(separator));