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If a string contains a double character change it to another string C#

I created a Person Model:
Model Person = new Model();
Person.LastName = values[0];
[LastName is a string]
I would like to replace the values [0] which is "Anna" with another string value like "Frank" if it contains a double character, in this case "if Anna contains a double character, change the value
with another string".
how to do?

Write a helper function to test for consecutive equal characters:
private static bool HasDoubleCharacter(string s)
{
char? previous = null;
foreach (char ch in s) {
if (ch == previous) {
return true;
}
previous = ch;
}
return false;
}
The you can write
Model Person = new Model();
string name = values[0];
if (HasDoubleCharacter(name)) {
name = "Frank";
}
Person.LastName = name;
You could also create a new array containing only names with no double character and use that one instead:
Model Person = new Model();
string[] names = values
.Where(v => !HasDoubleCharacter(v))
.ToArray();
if (names.Length > 0) {
Person.LastName = names[0];
}

Same idea as in Michał Turczyn post - a check for double character, but implemented via regular expressions:
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
...
public static bool HasDoubleChar(string value) =>
value != null && Regex.IsMatch(value, #"(.)\1");
pattern (.)\1 explained:
(.) - group which contains an arbitrary character
\1 - the group #1 repeated again
Note, that we have some flexibility here: (\p{L})\1 will check for double letters only, not, say, spaces; (?i)(.)\1 will compare ignoring case (Aaron will be matched) etc.
then as usual
Person.LastName = HasDoubleChar(values[0])
? "Frank"
: values[0];

This could be achieved with easy extensions funciton for string:
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static bool HasDoubleChar(this string #this)
{
ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(#this);
for (int i = 1; i < #this.Length; i++)
{
if (#this[i] == #this[i - 1])
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
}
and then you could use it:
Person.LastName = values[0].HasDoubleChar()
? "Frank"
: values[0];

public static string Do(string source, string replacement)
{
char c = source.ToLower()[0]; // do you care about case? E.g., Aaron.
for(int i = 1; i < source.Length; i++)
{
if (source.ToLower()[i] == c)
{
return replacement;
}
}
return source;
}
public static void Main()
{
string thing = "Aaron";
thing = Do(thing, "Frank");
}

Convert String To camelCase from TitleCase C#

I have a string that I converted to a TextInfo.ToTitleCase and removed the underscores and joined the string together. Now I need to change the first and only the first character in the string to lower case and for some reason, I can not figure out how to accomplish it.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string functionName = "zebulans_nightmare";
TextInfo txtInfo = new CultureInfo("en-us", false).TextInfo;
functionName = txtInfo.ToTitleCase(functionName).Replace('_', ' ').Replace(" ", String.Empty);
Console.Out.WriteLine(functionName);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Results: ZebulansNightmare
Desired Results: zebulansNightmare
UPDATE:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string functionName = "zebulans_nightmare";
TextInfo txtInfo = new CultureInfo("en-us", false).TextInfo;
functionName = txtInfo.ToTitleCase(functionName).Replace("_", string.Empty).Replace(" ", string.Empty);
functionName = $"{functionName.First().ToString().ToLowerInvariant()}{functionName.Substring(1)}";
Console.Out.WriteLine(functionName);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Produces the desired output.

You just need to lower the first char in the array. See this answer
Char.ToLowerInvariant(name[0]) + name.Substring(1)
As a side note, seeing as you are removing spaces you can replace the underscore with an empty string.
.Replace("_", string.Empty)

If you're using .NET Core 3 or .NET 5, you can call:
System.Text.Json.JsonNamingPolicy.CamelCase.ConvertName(someString)
Then you'll definitely get the same results as ASP.NET's own JSON serializer.

Implemented Bronumski's answer in an extension method (without replacing underscores).
public static class StringExtension
{
public static string ToCamelCase(this string str)
{
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) && str.Length > 1)
{
return char.ToLowerInvariant(str[0]) + str.Substring(1);
}
return str.ToLowerInvariant();
}
}
//Or
public static class StringExtension
{
public static string ToCamelCase(this string str) =>
string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) || str.Length < 2
? str.ToLowerInvariant()
: char.ToLowerInvariant(str[0]) + str.Substring(1);
}
and to use it:
string input = "ZebulansNightmare";
string output = input.ToCamelCase();

Here is my code, in case it is useful to anyone
// This converts to camel case
// Location_ID => locationId, and testLEFTSide => testLeftSide
static string CamelCase(string s)
{
var x = s.Replace("_", "");
if (x.Length == 0) return "null";
x = Regex.Replace(x, "([A-Z])([A-Z]+)($|[A-Z])",
m => m.Groups[1].Value + m.Groups[2].Value.ToLower() + m.Groups[3].Value);
return char.ToLower(x[0]) + x.Substring(1);
}
If you prefer Pascal-case use:
static string PascalCase(string s)
{
var x = CamelCase(s);
return char.ToUpper(x[0]) + x.Substring(1);
}

The following code works with acronyms as well. If it is the first word it converts the acronym to lower case (e.g., VATReturn to vatReturn), and otherwise leaves it as it is (e.g., ExcludedVAT to excludedVAT).
name = Regex.Replace(name, #"([A-Z])([A-Z]+|[a-z0-9_]+)($|[A-Z]\w*)",
m =>
{
return m.Groups[1].Value.ToLower() + m.Groups[2].Value.ToLower() + m.Groups[3].Value;
});

Example 01
public static string ToCamelCase(this string text)
{
return CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.TextInfo.ToTitleCase(text);
}
Example 02
public static string ToCamelCase(this string text)
{
return string.Join(" ", text
.Split()
.Select(i => char.ToUpper(i[0]) + i.Substring(1)));
}
Example 03
public static string ToCamelCase(this string text)
{
char[] a = text.ToLower().ToCharArray();
for (int i = 0; i < a.Count(); i++)
{
a[i] = i == 0 || a[i - 1] == ' ' ? char.ToUpper(a[i]) : a[i];
}
return new string(a);
}

Adapted from Leonardo's answer:
static string PascalCase(string str) {
TextInfo cultInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US", false).TextInfo;
str = Regex.Replace(str, "([A-Z]+)", " $1");
str = cultInfo.ToTitleCase(str);
str = str.Replace(" ", "");
return str;
}
Converts to PascalCase by first adding a space before any group of capitals, and then converting to title case before removing all the spaces.

Here's my code, includes lowering all upper prefixes:
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static string ToCamelCase(this string str)
{
bool hasValue = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(str);
// doesn't have a value or already a camelCased word
if (!hasValue || (hasValue && Char.IsLower(str[0])))
{
return str;
}
string finalStr = "";
int len = str.Length;
int idx = 0;
char nextChar = str[idx];
while (Char.IsUpper(nextChar))
{
finalStr += char.ToLowerInvariant(nextChar);
if (len - 1 == idx)
{
// end of string
break;
}
nextChar = str[++idx];
}
// if not end of string
if (idx != len - 1)
{
finalStr += str.Substring(idx);
}
return finalStr;
}
}
Use it like this:
string camelCasedDob = "DOB".ToCamelCase();

If you are Ok with the Newtonsoft.JSON dependency, the following string extension method will help. The advantage of this approach is the serialization will work on par with standard WebAPI model binding serialization with high accuracy.
public static class StringExtensions
{
private class CamelCasingHelper : CamelCaseNamingStrategy
{
private CamelCasingHelper(){}
private static CamelCasingHelper helper =new CamelCasingHelper();
public static string ToCamelCase(string stringToBeConverted)
{
return helper.ResolvePropertyName(stringToBeConverted);
}
}
public static string ToCamelCase(this string str)
{
return CamelCasingHelper.ToCamelCase(str);
}
}
Here is the working fiddle
https://dotnetfiddle.net/pug8pP

In .Net 6 and above
public static class CamelCaseExtension
{
public static string ToCamelCase(this string str) =>
char.ToLowerInvariant(str[0]) + str[1..];
}

public static string CamelCase(this string str)
{
TextInfo cultInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US", false).TextInfo;
str = cultInfo.ToTitleCase(str);
str = str.Replace(" ", "");
return str;
}
This should work using System.Globalization

var camelCaseFormatter = new JsonSerializerSettings();
camelCaseFormatter.ContractResolver = new CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver();
JsonConvert.SerializeObject(object, camelCaseFormatter));

Strings are immutable, but we can use unsafe code to make it mutable though.
The string.Copy insured that the original string stays as is.
In order for these codes to run you have to allow unsafe code in your project.
public static unsafe string ToCamelCase(this string value)
{
if (value == null || value.Length == 0)
{
return value;
}
string result = string.Copy(value);
fixed (char* chr = result)
{
char valueChar = *chr;
*chr = char.ToLowerInvariant(valueChar);
}
return result;
}
This version modifies the original string, instead of returning a modified copy. This will be annoying though and totally uncommon. So make sure the XML comments are warning users about that.
public static unsafe void ToCamelCase(this string value)
{
if (value == null || value.Length == 0)
{
return value;
}
fixed (char* chr = value)
{
char valueChar = *chr;
*chr = char.ToLowerInvariant(valueChar);
}
return value;
}
Why use unsafe code though? Short answer... It's super fast.

Here's my code which is pretty simple. My major objective was to ensure that camel-casing was compatible with what ASP.NET serializes objects to, which the above examples don't guarantee.
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static string ToCamelCase(this string name)
{
var sb = new StringBuilder();
var i = 0;
// While we encounter upper case characters (except for the last), convert to lowercase.
while (i < name.Length - 1 && char.IsUpper(name[i + 1]))
{
sb.Append(char.ToLowerInvariant(name[i]));
i++;
}
// Copy the rest of the characters as is, except if we're still on the first character - which is always lowercase.
while (i < name.Length)
{
sb.Append(i == 0 ? char.ToLowerInvariant(name[i]) : name[i]);
i++;
}
return sb.ToString();
}
}

/// <summary>
/// Gets the camel case from snake case.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="snakeCase">The snake case.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
private string GetCamelCaseFromSnakeCase(string snakeCase)
{
string camelCase = string.Empty;
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(snakeCase))
{
string[] words = snakeCase.Split('_');
foreach (var word in words)
{
camelCase = string.Concat(camelCase, Char.ToUpperInvariant(word[0]) + word.Substring(1));
}
// making first character small case
camelCase = Char.ToLowerInvariant(camelCase[0]) + camelCase.Substring(1);
}
return camelCase;
}

I use This method to convert the string with separated by "_" to Camel Case
public static string ToCamelCase(string? s)
{
var nameArr = s?.ToLower().Split("_");
var str = "";
foreach (var name in nameArr.Select((value, i) => new { value, i }))
{
if(name.i >= 1)
{
str += string.Concat(name.value[0].ToString().ToUpper(), name.value.AsSpan(1));
}
else
{
str += name.value ;
}
}
return str;
}
u can change the separated by "_" with any other you want.

Simple and easy in build c#
using System;
using System.Globalization;
public class SamplesTextInfo {
public static void Main() {
// Defines the string with mixed casing.
string myString = "wAr aNd pEaCe";
// Creates a TextInfo based on the "en-US" culture.
TextInfo myTI = new CultureInfo("en-US",false).TextInfo;
// Changes a string to lowercase.
Console.WriteLine( "\"{0}\" to lowercase: {1}", myString, myTI.ToLower( myString ) );
// Changes a string to uppercase.
Console.WriteLine( "\"{0}\" to uppercase: {1}", myString, myTI.ToUpper( myString ) );
// Changes a string to titlecase.
Console.WriteLine( "\"{0}\" to titlecase: {1}", myString, myTI.ToTitleCase( myString ) );
}
}
/*
This code produces the following output.
"wAr aNd pEaCe" to lowercase: war and peace
"wAr aNd pEaCe" to uppercase: WAR AND PEACE
"wAr aNd pEaCe" to titlecase: War And Peace
*/

public static class StringExtension
{
public static string ToCamelCase(this string str)
{
return string.Join(" ", str
.Split()
.Select(i => char.ToUpper(i[0]) + i.Substring(1).ToLower()));
}
}

I had the same issue with titleCase so I just created one, hope this helps this is an extension method.
public static string ToCamelCase(this string text)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(text))
return text;
var separators = new[] { '_', ' ' };
var arr = text
.Split(separators)
.Where(word => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(word));
var camelCaseArr = arr
.Select((word, i) =>
{
if (i == 0)
return word.ToLower();
var characterArr = word.ToCharArray()
.Select((character, characterIndex) => characterIndex == 0
? character.ToString().ToUpper()
: character.ToString().ToLower());
return string.Join("", characterArr);
});
return string.Join("", camelCaseArr);
}

compare the characters in two strings

In C#, how do I compare the characters in two strings.
For example, let's say I have these two strings
"bc3231dsc" and "bc3462dsc"
How do I programically figure out the the strings
both start with "bc3" and end with "dsc"?
So the given would be two variables:
var1 = "bc3231dsc";
var2 = "bc3462dsc";
After comparing each characters from var1 to var2, I would want the output to be:
leftMatch = "bc3";
center1 = "231";
center2 = "462";
rightMatch = "dsc";
Conditions:
1. The strings will always be a length of 9 character.
2. The strings are not case sensitive.

The string class has 2 methods (StartsWith and Endwith) that you can use.

After reading your question and the already given answers i think there are some constraints are missing, which are maybe obvious to you, but not to the community. But maybe we can do a little guess work:
You'll have a bunch of string pairs that should be compared.
The two strings in each pair are of the same length or you are only interested by comparing the characters read simultaneously from left to right.
Get some kind of enumeration that tells me where each block starts and how long it is.
Due to the fact, that a string is only a enumeration of chars you could use LINQ here to get an idea of the matching characters like this:
private IEnumerable<bool> CommonChars(string first, string second)
{
if (first == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("first");
if (second == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("second");
var charsToCompare = first.Zip(second, (LeftChar, RightChar) => new { LeftChar, RightChar });
var matchingChars = charsToCompare.Select(pair => pair.LeftChar == pair.RightChar);
return matchingChars;
}
With this we can proceed and now find out how long each block of consecutive true and false flags are with this method:
private IEnumerable<Tuple<int, int>> Pack(IEnumerable<bool> source)
{
if (source == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
using (var iterator = source.GetEnumerator())
{
if (!iterator.MoveNext())
{
yield break;
}
bool current = iterator.Current;
int index = 0;
int length = 1;
while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
if(current != iterator.Current)
{
yield return Tuple.Create(index, length);
index += length;
length = 0;
}
current = iterator.Current;
length++;
}
yield return Tuple.Create(index, length);
}
}
Currently i don't know if there is an already existing LINQ function that provides the same functionality. As far as i have already read it should be possible with SelectMany() (cause in theory you can accomplish any LINQ task with this method), but as an adhoc implementation the above was easier (for me).
These functions could then be used in a way something like this:
var firstString = "bc3231dsc";
var secondString = "bc3462dsc";
var commonChars = CommonChars(firstString, secondString);
var packs = Pack(commonChars);
foreach (var item in packs)
{
Console.WriteLine("Left side: " + firstString.Substring(item.Item1, item.Item2));
Console.WriteLine("Right side: " + secondString.Substring(item.Item1, item.Item2));
Console.WriteLine();
}
Which would you then give this output:
Left side: bc3
Right side: bc3
Left side: 231
Right side: 462
Left side: dsc
Right side: dsc
The biggest drawback is in someway the usage of Tuple cause it leads to the ugly property names Item1 and Item2 which are far away from being instantly readable. But if it is really wanted you could introduce your own simple class holding two integers and has some rock-solid property names. Also currently the information is lost about if each block is shared by both strings or if they are different. But once again it should be fairly simply to get this information also into the tuple or your own class.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
string test1 = "bc3231dsc";
string tes2 = "bc3462dsc";
string firstmatch = GetMatch(test1, tes2, false);
string lasttmatch = GetMatch(test1, tes2, true);
string center1 = test1.Substring(firstmatch.Length, test1.Length -(firstmatch.Length + lasttmatch.Length)) ;
string center2 = test2.Substring(firstmatch.Length, test1.Length -(firstmatch.Length + lasttmatch.Length)) ;
}
public static string GetMatch(string fist, string second, bool isReverse)
{
if (isReverse)
{
fist = ReverseString(fist);
second = ReverseString(second);
}
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
char[] ar1 = fist.ToArray();
for (int i = 0; i < ar1.Length; i++)
{
if (fist.Length > i + 1 && ar1[i].Equals(second[i]))
{
builder.Append(ar1[i]);
}
else
{
break;
}
}
if (isReverse)
{
return ReverseString(builder.ToString());
}
return builder.ToString();
}
public static string ReverseString(string s)
{
char[] arr = s.ToCharArray();
Array.Reverse(arr);
return new string(arr);
}

Pseudo code of what you need..
int stringpos = 0
string resultstart = ""
while not end of string (either of the two)
{
if string1.substr(stringpos) == string1.substr(stringpos)
resultstart =resultstart + string1.substr(stringpos)
else
exit while
}
resultstart has you start string.. you can do the same going backwards...

Another solution you can use is Regular Expressions.
Regex re = new Regex("^bc3.*?dsc$");
String first = "bc3231dsc";
if(re.IsMatch(first)) {
//Act accordingly...
}
This gives you more flexibility when matching. The pattern above matches any string that starts in bc3 and ends in dsc with anything between except a linefeed. By changing .*? to \d, you could specify that you only want digits between the two fields. From there, the possibilities are endless.

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Sample {
static public void Main(){
string s1 = "bc3231dsc";
string s2 = "bc3462dsc";
List<string> common_str = commonStrings(s1,s2);
foreach ( var s in common_str)
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
static public List<string> commonStrings(string s1, string s2){
int len = s1.Length;
char [] match_chars = new char[len];
for(var i = 0; i < len ; ++i)
match_chars[i] = (Char.ToLower(s1[i])==Char.ToLower(s2[i]))? '#' : '_';
string pat = new String(match_chars);
Regex regex = new Regex("(#+)", RegexOptions.Compiled);
List<string> result = new List<string>();
foreach (Match match in regex.Matches(pat))
result.Add(s1.Substring(match.Index, match.Length));
return result;
}
}

for UPDATE CONDITION
using System;
class Sample {
static public void Main(){
string s1 = "bc3231dsc";
string s2 = "bc3462dsc";
int len = 9;//s1.Length;//cond.1)
int l_pos = 0;
int r_pos = len;
for(int i=0;i<len && Char.ToLower(s1[i])==Char.ToLower(s2[i]);++i){
++l_pos;
}
for(int i=len-1;i>0 && Char.ToLower(s1[i])==Char.ToLower(s2[i]);--i){
--r_pos;
}
string leftMatch = s1.Substring(0,l_pos);
string center1 = s1.Substring(l_pos, r_pos - l_pos);
string center2 = s2.Substring(l_pos, r_pos - l_pos);
string rightMatch = s1.Substring(r_pos);
Console.Write(
"leftMatch = \"{0}\"\n" +
"center1 = \"{1}\"\n" +
"center2 = \"{2}\"\n" +
"rightMatch = \"{3}\"\n",leftMatch, center1, center2, rightMatch);
}
}

How to ignore case in String.replace

string sentence = "We know it contains 'camel' word.";
// Camel can be in different cases:
string s1 = "CAMEL";
string s2 = "CaMEL";
string s3 = "CAMeL";
// ...
string s4 = "Camel";
// ...
string s5 = "camel";
How to replace 'camel' in sentence with 'horse' despite of string.Replace doesn't support ignoreCase on left string?

Use a regular expression:
var regex = new Regex( "camel", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase );
var newSentence = regex.Replace( sentence, "horse" );
Of course, this will also match words containing camel, but it's not clear if you want that or not.
If you need exact matches you can use a custom MatchEvaluator.
public static class Evaluators
{
public static string Wrap( Match m, string original, string format )
{
// doesn't match the entire string, otherwise it is a match
if (m.Length != original.Length)
{
// has a preceding letter or digit (i.e., not a real match).
if (m.Index != 0 && char.IsLetterOrDigit( original[m.Index - 1] ))
{
return m.Value;
}
// has a trailing letter or digit (i.e., not a real match).
if (m.Index + m.Length != original.Length && char.IsLetterOrDigit( original[m.Index + m.Length] ))
{
return m.Value;
}
}
// it is a match, apply the format
return string.Format( format, m.Value );
}
}
Used with the previous example to wrap the match in a span as:
var regex = new Regex( highlightedWord, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase );
foreach (var sentence in sentences)
{
var evaluator = new MatchEvaluator( match => Evaluators.Wrap( match, sentence, "<span class='red'>{0}</span>" ) );
Console.WriteLine( regex.Replace( sentence, evaluator ) );
}

Add an extension method for string to do the trick:
Usage:
string yourString = "TEXTTOREPLACE";
yourString.Replace("texttoreplace", "Look, I Got Replaced!", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
Code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
public static class Extensions
{
public static string Replace(this string source, string oldString, string newString, StringComparison comp)
{
int index = source.IndexOf(oldString, comp);
// Determine if we found a match
bool MatchFound = index >= 0;
if (MatchFound)
{
// Remove the old text
source = source.Remove(index, oldString.Length);
// Add the replacemenet text
source = source.Insert(index, newString);
}
// recurse for multiple instances of the name
if (source.IndexOf(oldString, comp) != -1)
{
source = Replace(source, oldString, newString, comp);
}
return source;
}
}

Here's an extension method taking a StringComparison, using string.IndexOf:
[Pure]
public static string Replace(this string source, string oldValue, string newValue, StringComparison comparisonType)
{
if (source.Length == 0 || oldValue.Length == 0)
return source;
var result = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
int startingPos = 0;
int nextMatch;
while ((nextMatch = source.IndexOf(oldValue, startingPos, comparisonType)) > -1)
{
result.Append(source, startingPos, nextMatch - startingPos);
result.Append(newValue);
startingPos = nextMatch + oldValue.Length;
}
result.Append(source, startingPos, source.Length - startingPos);
return result.ToString();
}
Btw, here's also a similar Contains-method also taking a StringComparison:
[Pure]
public static bool Contains(this string source, string value, StringComparison comparisonType)
{
return source.IndexOf(value, comparisonType) >= 0;
}
Some tests:
[TestFixture]
public class ExternalTests
{
private static string[] TestReplace_args =
{
"ab/B/c/ac",
"HELLO World/Hello/Goodbye/Goodbye World",
"Hello World/world/there!/Hello there!",
"hello WoRlD/world/there!/hello there!",
"///",
"ab///ab",
"/ab/cd/",
"a|b|c|d|e|f/|//abcdef",
"a|b|c|d|e|f|/|/:/a:b:c:d:e:f:",
};
[Test, TestCaseSource("TestReplace_args")]
public void TestReplace(string teststring)
{
var split = teststring.Split("/");
var source = split[0];
var oldValue = split[1];
var newValue = split[2];
var result = split[3];
Assert.That(source.Replace(oldValue, newValue, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase), Is.EqualTo(result));
}
}

Here is my extension method, which combines Tom Beech's, with the recursiveness of sntbob's, and a cleaner fix to the bug that ksun pointed out.
Code:
public static string Replace(this string source, string oldString,
string newString, StringComparison comparison)
{
int index = source.IndexOf(oldString, comparison);
while (index > -1)
{
source = source.Remove(index, oldString.Length);
source = source.Insert(index, newString);
index = source.IndexOf(oldString, index + newString.Length, comparison);
}
return source;
}
Usage:
string source = "banana";
Console.WriteLine(source.Replace("AN", "banana", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
Result:
bbananabananaa
And, if you still want the recursive nature to be optional:
Code:
public static string Replace(this string source, string oldString,
string newString, StringComparison comparison,
bool recursive = true)
{
int index = source.IndexOf(oldString, comparison);
while (index > -1)
{
source = source.Remove(index, oldString.Length);
source = source.Insert(index, newString);
if (!recursive)
{
return source;
}
index = source.IndexOf(oldString, index + newString.Length, comparison);
}
return source;
}
Usage:
string source = "banana";
Console.WriteLine(source.Replace("AN", "banana", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase, false));
Result:
bbananaana

Utiltize StringComparison because of its handy OrdinalIgnoreCase
string sentence = "We know it contains 'camel' word.";
string wordToFind = "camel";
string replacementWord = "horse";
int index = sentence.IndexOf(wordToFind , StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
// Did we match the word regardless of case
bool match = index >= 0;
// perform the replace on the matched word
if(match) {
sentence = sentence.Remove(index, wordToFind.Length)
sentence = sentence.Insert(index, replacementWord)
}
Sure would be nice if the C# String class had an ignoreCase() method like Java.

You could also use String.IndexOf
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.indexof.aspx
You may get slightly better performance doing it this way than with RegExpressions (I abhor them because they're not intuitive and easy to screw up, although this simple .Net function call abstracts the actual messy RegEx, and doesn't provide much room for error), but that's probably not a concern for you; computers are REALLY fast these days, right? :) The overload for IndexOf that takes a StringComparison object allows you to optionally ignore case, and because IndexOf returns the first occurrence from at a specified position, you'll have to code a loop to process a string having multiple occurrences.

public static string CustomReplace(string srcText, string toFind, string toReplace, bool matchCase, bool replace0nce)
{
StringComparison sc = StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
if (matchCase)
sc = StringComparison.Ordinal;
int pos;
while ((pos = srcText.IndexOf(toFind, sc)) > -1)
{
srcText = srcText.Remove(pos, toFind.Length);
srcText = srcText.Insert(pos, toReplace);
if (replace0nce)
break;
}
return srcText;
}

It may not be as efficient as some of the other answers, but I kind of like the CustomReplace function written by sntbob.
However, there is a flaw in it. If the text replacement is recursive it will cause an infinite loop. For example, CustomReplace("I eat bananas!","an","banana",false,false) would cause an infinite loop and the string would continue growing larger.
For example, after the 4th iteration the string would be "I eat bbbbbananaanaanaanaanas!"
If you want to only replace the two instances of "an" inside "banana" then you'll have to take another approach. I modified sntbob's code to account for this case. I admit that it's much more convoluted, but it handles recursive replacements.
public static string CustomReplace(string srcText, string toFind, string toReplace, bool matchCase, bool replaceOnce)
{
StringComparison sc = StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
if (matchCase)
sc = StringComparison.Ordinal;
int pos;
int previousProcessedLength = 0;
string alreadyProcessedTxt = "";
string remainingToProcessTxt = srcText;
while ((pos = remainingToProcessTxt.IndexOf(toFind, sc)) > -1)
{
previousProcessedLength = alreadyProcessedTxt.Length;
//Append processed text up until the end of the found string and perform replacement
alreadyProcessedTxt += remainingToProcessTxt.Substring(0, pos + toFind.Length);
alreadyProcessedTxt = alreadyProcessedTxt.Remove(previousProcessedLength + pos, toFind.Length);
alreadyProcessedTxt = alreadyProcessedTxt.Insert(previousProcessedLength + pos, toReplace);
//Remove processed text from remaining
remainingToProcessTxt = remainingToProcessTxt.Substring(pos + toFind.Length);
if (replaceOnce)
break;
}
return alreadyProcessedTxt + remainingToProcessTxt;
}

Why not just import the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace and use the VB Strings.Replace method?
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.visualbasic.strings.replace(v=vs.110).aspx
eg
var newString = Strings.Replace(SourceString, FindTextValue, ReplacementTextValue, 1, -1, Constants.vbTextCompare);
vbTextCompare forces a case-insensitive replacement. Job done.
Okay, it's not 'pure' C#, but it gets you to where you want to go with much less complexity and messing around.

Here's one more alternative that uses StringComparison as an extension method. on a StringBuilder object. I've read some articles indicating that a StringBuilder might be a little more efficient with memory than using strings. You can easily alter this to work with strings if that's what you need.
/// <summary>
/// Extension method to find/replace replaces text in a StringBuilder object
/// </summary>
/// <param name="original">Source StringBuilder object</param>
/// <param name="oldString">String to search for</param>
/// <param name="newString">String to replace each occurrance of oldString</param>
/// <param name="stringComparison">String comparison to use</param>
/// <returns>Original Stringbuilder with replacements made</returns>
public static StringBuilder Replace(this StringBuilder original,
string oldString, string newString, StringComparison stringComparison)
{
//If anything is null, or oldString is blank, exit with original value
if ( newString == null || original == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(oldString))
return original;
//Convert to a string and get starting position using
//IndexOf which allows us to use StringComparison.
int pos = original.ToString().IndexOf(oldString, 0, stringComparison);
//Loop through until we find and replace all matches
while ( pos >= 0 )
{
//Remove the old string and insert the new one.
original.Remove(pos, oldString.Length).Insert(pos, newString);
//Get the next match starting 1 character after last replacement (to avoid a possible infinite loop)
pos = original.ToString().IndexOf(oldString, pos + newString.Length + 1, stringComparison);
}
return original;
}

How do I remove all non alphanumeric characters from a string except dash?

How do I remove all non alphanumeric characters from a string except dash and space characters?

Replace [^a-zA-Z0-9 -] with an empty string.
Regex rgx = new Regex("[^a-zA-Z0-9 -]");
str = rgx.Replace(str, "");

I could have used RegEx, they can provide elegant solution but they can cause performane issues. Here is one solution
char[] arr = str.ToCharArray();
arr = Array.FindAll<char>(arr, (c => (char.IsLetterOrDigit(c)
|| char.IsWhiteSpace(c)
|| c == '-')));
str = new string(arr);
When using the compact framework (which doesn't have FindAll)
Replace FindAll with1
char[] arr = str.Where(c => (char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) ||
char.IsWhiteSpace(c) ||
c == '-')).ToArray();
str = new string(arr);
1 Comment by ShawnFeatherly

You can try:
string s1 = Regex.Replace(s, "[^A-Za-z0-9 -]", "");
Where s is your string.

Using System.Linq
string withOutSpecialCharacters = new string(stringWithSpecialCharacters.Where(c =>char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) || char.IsWhiteSpace(c) || c == '-').ToArray());

The regex is [^\w\s\-]*:
\s is better to use instead of space (), because there might be a tab in the text.

Based on the answer for this question, I created a static class and added these. Thought it might be useful for some people.
public static class RegexConvert
{
public static string ToAlphaNumericOnly(this string input)
{
Regex rgx = new Regex("[^a-zA-Z0-9]");
return rgx.Replace(input, "");
}
public static string ToAlphaOnly(this string input)
{
Regex rgx = new Regex("[^a-zA-Z]");
return rgx.Replace(input, "");
}
public static string ToNumericOnly(this string input)
{
Regex rgx = new Regex("[^0-9]");
return rgx.Replace(input, "");
}
}
Then the methods can be used as:
string example = "asdf1234!##$";
string alphanumeric = example.ToAlphaNumericOnly();
string alpha = example.ToAlphaOnly();
string numeric = example.ToNumericOnly();

Want something quick?
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static string ToAlphaNumeric(this string self,
params char[] allowedCharacters)
{
return new string(Array.FindAll(self.ToCharArray(),
c => char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) ||
allowedCharacters.Contains(c)));
}
}
This will allow you to specify which characters you want to allow as well.

Here is a non-regex heap allocation friendly fast solution which was what I was looking for.
Unsafe edition.
public static unsafe void ToAlphaNumeric(ref string input)
{
fixed (char* p = input)
{
int offset = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < input.Length; i++)
{
if (char.IsLetterOrDigit(p[i]))
{
p[offset] = input[i];
offset++;
}
}
((int*)p)[-1] = offset; // Changes the length of the string
p[offset] = '\0';
}
}
And for those who don't want to use unsafe or don't trust the string length hack.
public static string ToAlphaNumeric(string input)
{
int j = 0;
char[] newCharArr = new char[input.Length];
for (int i = 0; i < input.Length; i++)
{
if (char.IsLetterOrDigit(input[i]))
{
newCharArr[j] = input[i];
j++;
}
}
Array.Resize(ref newCharArr, j);
return new string(newCharArr);
}

I´ve made a different solution, by eliminating the Control characters, which was my original problem.
It is better than putting in a list all the "special but good" chars
char[] arr = str.Where(c => !char.IsControl(c)).ToArray();
str = new string(arr);
it´s simpler, so I think it´s better !

Here's an extension method using #ata answer as inspiration.
"hello-world123, 456".MakeAlphaNumeric(new char[]{'-'});// yields "hello-world123456"
or if you require additional characters other than hyphen...
"hello-world123, 456!?".MakeAlphaNumeric(new char[]{'-','!'});// yields "hello-world123456!"
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static string MakeAlphaNumeric(this string input, params char[] exceptions)
{
var charArray = input.ToCharArray();
var alphaNumeric = Array.FindAll<char>(charArray, (c => char.IsLetterOrDigit(c)|| exceptions?.Contains(c) == true));
return new string(alphaNumeric);
}
}

If you are working in JS, here is a very terse version
myString = myString.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9 -]/g, "");

I use a variation of one of the answers here. I want to replace spaces with "-" so its SEO friendly and also make lower case. Also not reference system.web from my services layer.
private string MakeUrlString(string input)
{
var array = input.ToCharArray();
array = Array.FindAll<char>(array, c => char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) || char.IsWhiteSpace(c) || c == '-');
var newString = new string(array).Replace(" ", "-").ToLower();
return newString;
}

There is a much easier way with Regex.
private string FixString(string str)
{
return string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) ? str : Regex.Replace(str, "[\\D]", "");
}