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C# Trim a string, Get mid characters + right characters

I neeed to trim the following string to get a unique ID for a DataTable.

ProductTypeList:_ctl"3":ProductList:_ctl"10"

I have put quotes around the sections I need to extract. the numbers could be single or double digits but the first set will always have the first "_ctl" before and ":" after, the second set will always be at the end after the last "_ctl"

Thanks in advance

Glorfindal

Axter

Hi glorfindal,
You should be able to use LastIndexOf to get the last "_ctrl" position, and use the IndexOf method to get the first position of "_ctrl"

David Maisonave :-)
Cheers!

RealMrTea

The following code will do what you want. I did not include any error checking...you might want to make sure the string exists and all that but this should work fine.

string startKey = "_ctl";
                  string endKey = ":";

                  //string input = "ProductTypeList:_ctl\"3\":ProductList:_ctl\"10\"";
                  string input = "ProductTypeList:_ctl3:ProductList:_ctl10";

                  int startKeyIndex = input.IndexOf(startKey);
                  int endKeyIndex = input.IndexOf(endKey, startKeyIndex);
                  int keyStartIndex = startKeyIndex + startKey.Length;
                  string strFirstValue = input.Substring(keyStartIndex, endKeyIndex - keyStartIndex);
                  Console.WriteLine(strFirstValue);

                  startKeyIndex = input.IndexOf(startKey, endKeyIndex);
                  endKeyIndex = input.Length;
                  keyStartIndex = startKeyIndex + startKey.Length;
                  string strSecondValue = input.Substring(keyStartIndex, endKeyIndex - keyStartIndex);
                  Console.WriteLine(strSecondValue);

Good Luck,
Eric

Axter

Example:

FirstNumberString = OriginalString.SubString(OriginalString.IndexOf("_ctrl")+5);
LastNumberString = OriginalString.SubString(OriginalString.LastIndexOf("_ctrl")+5);

WinterMuteUK

Another way might be to split the string:

      string str = "ProductTypeList:_ctl3:ProductList:_ctl10:ProductList:_ctl2342:ProductList:_ctl7231:ProductList:_ctl99";
      string[] split = str.Split("l:".ToCharArray());
      for(int i = 2; i < split.Length; i = i+3)
            Console.WriteLine(split[i]);

Thanks

Wint.

WinterMuteUK

You could do the following if you want the values as integers:

      string str = "ProductTypeList:_ctl3:ProductList:_ctl10:ProductList:_ctl2342:ProductList:_ctl7231:ProductList:_ctl99";
      string[] split = str.Split("l:".ToCharArray());

      int[] numbers = new int[split.Length / 3]; //There is one number for each 3 'split' strings.

      int j = 0; //The counter to store values into the 'numbers' array.
      for(int i = 2; i < split.Length; i = i+3) //First value is found at index 2 (index[0] = 'ProductTypeList', index[1] = '_ctl')
      {
            numbers[j] = Convert.ToInt32(split[i]); //Insert to numbers array.
            j++; //Increment counter.
      }

You'd then have an array of the correct size filled with the numbers from the string.

Wint.

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b1xml2

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Bob Learned

I agree with b1xml2:

private string GenerateUniqueID(string input)
{

string pattern = @"[\d]+";

Regex rgx = new Regex(pattern);

string id = String.Empty;

foreach (Match current in rgx.Matches(input))
{
id += current.Value;
}

return id;

}

Usage:
string id = GenerateUniqueID(input);

Bob

AShumita

The above suggestions do exactly what you asked for

but you can also use the method <B>ControlName.NamingContainer.UniqueID</B> to get the unique Id of any component created.

Bob Learned

Assuming ASP.NET, that is :)

Bob

glorfindal

ASKER

Sorry it took so long getting back.

Thanks,
Glorfindal