CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#regexparentheses
user2405778
user2405778

Reputation: 497

C# remove parenthesis from string

This seems to be a common question for C# users and after research and multiple attempts I cant for the life of me remove a pair of parenthesis from a string. The string I am having a problem with is Service (additional).

After doing my research I understand parenthesis are treated differently in Regex.Replace. With my research also came multiple answers that I attempted but nothing seems to have worked. Here are some ways that I have tried to remove these parenthesis.

cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace("(", "").Replace(")", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");

cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace(@"\(", "").Replace(@"\)", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");

cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace("[()]", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");

cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace(@"[^a-zA-Z]", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");

None of these worked, after stepping through the code I just see the the space between the 'e' and '(' removed. Am I missing something?

In case anyone wanted to see the function that is being used here it is:

    public static string CleanExtra(string intVal)
    {
        string cleanValue;
        if (intVal == null)
        {
            throw new System.ArgumentException("Value cannot be null", "original");
        }
        else
        {
            //cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace("(", "").Replace(")", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");
            //cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace(@"\(", "").Replace(@"\)", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");
            //cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace("[()]", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");
            cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, " ", "").Replace(@"[^a-zA-Z]", "").Replace(",", "").Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "");
        }

        return cleanValue;
    }

Upvotes: 10

Views: 21908

Answers (4)

Marius Stănescu
Marius Stănescu

Reputation: 3761

Or, if you want a fancy LINQ way to do it, instead of regex, here you go:

return new string(input.Where(c => c != '(' && c != ')').ToArray());

And this will remove all kinds of parentheses or brackets:

var chars = input
    .Where(c => CharUnicodeInfo.GetUnicodeCategory(c) != UnicodeCategory.OpenPunctuation
                && CharUnicodeInfo.GetUnicodeCategory(c) != UnicodeCategory.ClosePunctuation)
    .ToArray();
return new string(chars);

Upvotes: 0

JaredPar
JaredPar

Reputation: 755457

A Regex is overkill here as this can be done with a simple Replace call:

string val = intVal.Replace("(", "").Replace(")", "");

Upvotes: 23

McAden
McAden

Reputation: 13970

After your call to Regex.Replace(...) you're actually using string.Replace(...). This makes your call to .Replace(@"[^a-zA-Z]", "") useless.

Simplify it instead to:

cleanValue = Regex.Replace(intVal, @"[^a-zA-Z]", "");

This should remove all spaces and special characters which is what it looks like your code is trying to do. This includes parentheses.

Upvotes: 8

Patrick Hofman
Patrick Hofman

Reputation: 157126

That is because every second Replace is a call on a string and therefore doesn't replace with regex.

Upvotes: 3

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