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Most efficient way to parse a delimited string in C#

This has been asked a few different ways but I am debating on "my way" vs "your way" with another developer. Language is C#.
I want to parse a pipe delimited string where the first 2 characters of each chunk is my tag.
The rules. Not my rules but rules I have been given and must follow.
I can't change the format of the string.
This function will be called possibly many times so efficiency is key.
I need to keep is simple.
The input string and tag I am looking for may/will change during runtime.
Example input string: AOVALUE1|ABVALUE2|ACVALUE3|ADVALUE4
Example tag I may need value for: AB
I split string into an array based on delimiter and loop through the array each time the function is called. I then looked at the first 2 characters and return the value minus the first 2 characters.
The "other guys" way is to take the string and use a combination of IndexOf and SubString to find the starting point and ending point of the field I am looking for. Then using SubString again to pullout the value minus the first 2 characters. So he would say IndexOf("|AB") the find then next pipe in the string. This would be the start and end. Then SubString that out.
Now I should think that IndexOf and SubString would parse the string each time at a char by char level so this would be less efficient than using large chunks and reading the string minus the first 2 characters. Or is there another way the is better then what both of us has proposed?

The other guy's approach is going to be more efficient in time given that input string needs to be reevaluated each time. If the input string is long, it is also won't require the extra memory that splitting the string would.
If I'm trying to code a really tight loop I prefer to directly use array/string operators rather than LINQ to avoid that additional overhead:
string inputString = "AOVALUE1|ABVALUE2|ACVALUE3|ADVALUE4";
static string FindString(string tag)
{
int startIndex;
if (inputString.StartsWith(tag))
{
startIndex = tag.Length;
}
else
{
startIndex = inputString.IndexOf(string.Format("|{0}", tag));
if (startIndex == -1)
return string.Empty;
startIndex += tag.Length + 1;
}
int endIndex = inputString.IndexOf('|', startIndex);
if (endIndex == -1)
endIndex = inputString.Length;
return inputString.Substring(startIndex, endIndex - startIndex);
}

I've done a lot of parsing in C# and I would probably take the approach suggested by the "other guys" just because it would be a bit lighter on resources used and likely to be a little faster as well.
That said, as long as the data isn't too big, there's nothing wrong with the first approach and it will be much easier to program.

Something like this may work ok
string myString = "AOVALUE1|ABVALUE2|ACVALUE3|ADVALUE4";
string selector = "AB";
var results = myString.Split('|').Where(x => x.StartsWith(selector)).Select(x => x.Replace(selector, ""));
Returns: list of the matches, in this case just one "VALUE2"
If you are just looking for the first or only match this will work.
string result = myString.Split('|').Where(x => x.StartsWith(selector)).Select(x => x.Replace(selector, "")).FirstOrDefault();

SubString does not parse the string.
IndexOf does parse the string.
My preference would be the Split method, primarily code coding efficiency:
string[] inputArr = input.Split("|".ToCharArray()).Select(s => s.Substring(3)).ToArray();
is pretty concise. How many LoC does the substring/indexof method take?

Format string to a 3 digit number

Instead of doing this, I want to make use of string.format() to accomplish the same result:
if (myString.Length < 3)
{
myString = "00" + 3;
}

If you're just formatting a number, you can just provide the proper custom numeric format to make it a 3 digit string directly:
myString = 3.ToString("000");
Or, alternatively, use the standard D format string:
myString = 3.ToString("D3");

string.Format("{0:000}", myString);

It's called Padding:
myString.PadLeft(3, '0')

This is how it's done using string interpolation C# 7
$"{myString:000}"

(Can't comment yet with enough reputation , let me add a sidenote)
Just in case your output need to be fixed length of 3-digit , i.e. for number run up to 1000 or more (reserved fixed length), don't forget to add mod 1000 on it .
yourNumber=1001;
yourString= yourNumber.ToString("D3"); // "1001"
yourString= (yourNumber%1000).ToString("D3"); // "001" truncated to 3-digit as expected
Trail sample on Fiddler https://dotnetfiddle.net/qLrePt

This is a short hand string format Interpolation:
$"{value:D3}"

"How to: Pad a Number with Leading Zeros"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd260048.aspx

Does it have to be String.Format?
This looks like a job for String.Padleft
myString=myString.PadLeft(3, '0');
Or, if you are converting direct from an int:
myInt.toString("D3");

You can also do : string.Format("{0:D3}, 3);

Remove last characters from a string in C#. An elegant way?

I have a numeric string like this 2223,00. I would like to transform it to 2223. This is: without the information after the ",". Assume that there will be only two decimals after the ",".
I did:
str = str.Remove(str.Length - 3, 3);
Is there a more elegant solution? Maybe using another function? -I don´t like putting explicit numbers-

You can actually just use the Remove overload that takes one parameter:
str = str.Remove(str.Length - 3);
However, if you're trying to avoid hard coding the length, you can use:
str = str.Remove(str.IndexOf(','));

Perhaps this:
str = str.Split(",").First();

This will return to you a string excluding everything after the comma
str = str.Substring(0, str.IndexOf(','));
Of course, this assumes your string actually has a comma with decimals. The above code will fail if it doesn't. You'd want to do more checks:
commaPos = str.IndexOf(',');
if(commaPos != -1)
str = str.Substring(0, commaPos)
I'm assuming you're working with a string to begin with. Ideally, if you're working with a number to begin with, like a float or double, you could just cast it to an int, then do myInt.ToString() like:
myInt = (int)double.Parse(myString)
This parses the double using the current culture (here in the US, we use . for decimal points). However, this again assumes that your input string is can be parsed.

String.Format("{0:0}", 123.4567); // "123"
If your initial value is a decimal into a string, you will need to convert
String.Format("{0:0}", double.Parse("3.5", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)) //3.5
In this example, I choose Invariant culture but you could use the one you want.
I prefer using the Formatting function because you never know if the decimal may contain 2 or 3 leading number in the future.
Edit: You can also use Truncate to remove all after the , or .
Console.WriteLine(Decimal.Truncate(Convert.ToDecimal("3,5")));

Use:
public static class StringExtensions
{
/// <summary>
/// Cut End. "12".SubstringFromEnd(1) -> "1"
/// </summary>
public static string SubstringFromEnd(this string value, int startindex)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) return value;
return value.Substring(0, value.Length - startindex);
}
}
I prefer an extension method here for two reasons:
I can chain it with Substring.
Example: f1.Substring(directorypathLength).SubstringFromEnd(1)
Speed.

You could use LastIndexOf and Substring combined to get all characters to the left of the last index of the comma within the sting.
string var = var.Substring(0, var.LastIndexOf(','));

You can use TrimEnd. It's efficient as well and looks clean.
"Name,".TrimEnd(',');

Try the following. It worked for me:
str = str.Split(',').Last();

Since C# 8.0 it has been possible to do this with a range operator.
string textValue = "2223,00";
textValue = textValue[0..^3];
Console.WriteLine(textValue);
This would output the string 2223.
The 0 says that it should start from the zeroth position in the string
The .. says that it should take the range between the operands on either side
The ^ says that it should take the operand relative to the end of the sequence
The 3 says that it should end from the third position in the string

Use lastIndexOf. Like:
string var = var.lastIndexOf(',');

how to extract substring from a undefined length of string?

Substring these string:-
1. ZZ111122
2. ZZZZ222111
3. ZZZZZZZ333
4. ZZZ111333
I have these kind of strings. This value is always starting with Z. And after Z its always either 1 or 2 or 3. But i dont know the number of Zs in the string. So how can i extract all Z from the string

I don't know if I understood right. If you have "ZZZZ222111" and want only "222111", do it:
string test = "ZZZZ222111";
test = test.Substring(test.LastIndexOf("Z") + 1);
If you want only "ZZZZ", do it:
string test = "ZZZZ222111";
test = test.Substring(0, test.LastIndexOf("Z"));
Both ways are very simple. No need of loops or regular expressions.

Sounds like you're going to want to use regular expressions for this.

Use String.Trim function:
ZeroZValue = stringValue.Trim('Z');

String test = "ZZ111122";
String zOnly = test.Substring(0, test.IndexOfAny("123".ToCharArray()));
Take advantage of IndexOfAny(). I am assuming you want only Z's left over ("extract all Z from the string").

This is not difficult. I recommend processing the text line by line.
You can loop the string character by character. You can use regular expressions. Or you could use my sscanf() replacement class for C#.

int start = someString.IndexOf("Z");
int end = someString.LastIndexOf("Z");
someString.Substring(start , end - start);

Copy first few strings separated by a symbol in c#

I have a string consist of integer numbers followed by "|" followed by some binary data.
Example.
321654|<some binary data here>
How do i get the numbers in front of the string in the lowest resource usage possible?
i did get the index of the symbol,
string s = "321654654|llasdkjjkwerklsdmv"
int d = s.IndexOf("|");
string n = s.Substring(d + 1).Trim();//did try other trim but unsuccessful
What to do next? Tried copyto but copyto only support char[].

Assuming you only want the numbers before the pipe, you can do:
string n = s.Substring(0, d);
(Make it d + 1 if you want the pipe character to also be included.)
I might be wrong, but I think you are under the impression that the parameter to string.Substring(int) represents "length." It does not; it represents the "start-index" of the desired substring, taken up to the end of the string.

s.Substring(0,d);

You can use String.Split() here is a reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms228388%28VS.80%29.aspx
string n = (s.Split("|"))[0] //this gets you the numbers
string o = (s.Split("|"))[1] //this gets you the letters