CODEWITHSUNDEEP
regexvb.netexcelvisual-studio
Chrisetiquette
Chrisetiquette

Reputation: 321

Need to separate out Letters from numbers in a string, via vb.net

I would like my code to find anywhere in the string that there is a number next to a letter and insert a space between the two.

I have several addresses that have no spaces and I need to insert spaces by separating out the numbers from the letters. For example:

123MainSt.Box123

Should be 123 Main St. Box 123

or

123Parkway134

should be: 123 Parkway 134

Here is where I started with my code but it was combing both numbers in the beginning....

Dim Digits() As String = Regex.Split(Address, "[^0-9]+")
        'MsgBox(Digits.Count)
        If Digits.Length > 2 Then

            ' For Each item As String In Digits

            Dim Letters As String = Regex.Replace(Address, "(?:[0-9]+\.?[0-9]*|\.[0-9]+)", "")

            rCell.Value = Digits(0) & Letters & Digits(1)

        End If

        If Digits.Length < 3 Then
            If Address.Contains("th") Then
            Else

                Dim Part1 As String = Regex.Replace(Address, "[^0-9]+", "")
                Dim Part2 As String = Regex.Replace(Address, "(?:[0-9]+\.?[0-9]*|\.[0-9]+)", "")
                'MsgBox(Part1 & " " & Part2)
                rCell.Value = Part1 & " " & Part2
            End If
        End If

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1667

Answers (2)

Wiktor Stribiżew
Wiktor Stribiżew

Reputation: 627488

I would like my code to find anywhere in the string that there is a number next to a letter and insert a space between the two.

The regex you may use is

Regex.Replace(input, "(?<=\d)(?=\p{L})|(?<=\p{L})(?=\d)", " ")

The first alternative - (?<=\d)(?=\p{L}) - matches the location between a digit and a letter, and the second alternative - (?<=\p{L})(?=\d) - matches a location between a letter and a digit.

Note that (?<=\p{L}) is a positive lookbehind that requires a letter before the current position and (?=\d) is a positive lookahead that requires a digit after the current position. These are lookarounds that do not consume text, thus, you replace empty spaces with (= insert) a space.

Upvotes: 3

Rob
Rob

Reputation: 3863

Here's a quick function:

 Private Function AddSpaces(ByVal input As String) As String

    If input.Length < 2 Then Return input

    Dim ReturnValue As String = String.Empty
    Dim CurrentChar, NextChar As String

    For x As Integer = 1 To input.Length

        CurrentChar = Mid(input, x, 1)
        NextChar = Mid(input, x + 1, 1)

        ReturnValue &= CurrentChar

        If (IsNumeric(CurrentChar) AndAlso (Not IsNumeric(NextChar))) OrElse
           ((Not IsNumeric(CurrentChar)) AndAlso IsNumeric(NextChar)) Then
            ReturnValue &= " "
        End If

    Next

    Return ReturnValue

End Function

Upvotes: 0

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