CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vb.netstring
BobNoobGuy
BobNoobGuy

Reputation: 1645

VB.net string split get the first value

I am working with a string that will always have "Product 1:" in it. I want to get the value of what comes after "product 1:". Here are some example of the string

Hello UserName Product 1: Alcatel Product 2: Samsung Truck: Fedex Ending: Canada

Hello UserName Product 1: NOKIA Truck: Fedex Ending: Canada

Hello UserName Product 1: Alcatel Product 2: Samsung Product 3: NOKIA Truck: Canada POST Ending: Brazil

Hello UserName Product 1: Alcatel-55 Special Product 2: Samsung Product 3: NOKIA Truck: Canada POST Ending: Brazil

Hello UserName Product 1: Samsung Galaxy S6-33 Truck: Canada POST Ending: Brazil

The string I am looking for:

I was having a little bit of luck with 

sMessage.Split("Product 1:")(1).Split(":")(1)

But with above code I still get

Upvotes: 1

Views: 6602

Answers (2)

Sani Huttunen
Sani Huttunen

Reputation: 24395

You could replace the undesired values with:

sMessage.Split("Product 1:")(1).Split(":")(1).Replace(" Truck", "")

You can also match the desired string with regular expressions:

(?<=Product 1: )((.*)(?= Product 2:)|(.*)(?= Truck:))

Example:

Dim regex As Regex = New Regex("(?<=Product 1: )((.*)(?= Product 2:)|(.*)(?= Truck:))")
Dim match As Match = regex.Match("Hello UserName Product 1: NOKIA Truck: Fedex Ending: Canada")

Note that if there are more delimiters than Product x and Truck you want to remove then you need to add those to the regular expression (or replace).

Edit

Updated the regular expression to be more generic in regards of delimiter words:

(?<=Product 1: )((.*)(?= Product 2:)|(.*?)(?= \w+:)|.*)

Now it will match on Product 2: or any other, or no delimiter.

Edit 2

More simplifications:

(?<=Product 1: )((.*?)(?= \w+ ?(\d+)?:)|.*)

This last regular expression also matches correctly if there is a delimiter with multiple digits like Products 123:.

Upvotes: 2

Ryan LaNeve
Ryan LaNeve

Reputation: 1254

This assumes you want the value between "Product 1:" and whatever the next "tag" happens to be, which in some cases is "Product 2:" and in other cases is "Truck:". Keep in mind that this is based only on the sample you provided - if you have other "tags" which can appear after the "Product 1:", you'll need to adjust.

The following regex will get you almost what you asked for

(?:Product 1:)(?<product>.+?)(?=(\sProduct 2:)|(\sTruck:))

Using that regex, and given your sample text, you will get capture groups named "product" as follows:

  • Alcatel
  • NOKIA
  • Alcatel
  • Alcatel-55 Special
  • Samsung Galaxy S6-33

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions