CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#string
Scott
Scott

Reputation: 13921

How to remove whitespace between specific characters in a string?

So I have a string like this:

string sampleString = "this - is a string   - with hyphens  -     in it";

The thing to note here is that there are a random number of spaces to the left and to the right of the hyphens. The goal is to replace space in my string WITH a hyphen (hence the problem with hypens in the string). So the result I'm after should look like this:

"this-is-a-string-with-hyphens-in-it".

Currently I'm using:

sampleString.Trim().ToLower().Replace(" ", "-")

but this results in the following output:

"this---is-a-string------with-hyphens--------in-it"

Looking for the cleanest, most concise solution to this.

Thanks!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 5183

Answers (8)

Harry Steinhilber
Harry Steinhilber

Reputation: 5239

Try using a System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.

Just call :

Regex.Replace(sampleString, @"\s+-?\s*", "-");

Upvotes: 6

jason
jason

Reputation: 241601

Because everyone will propose a regex solution, I present you a non regex solution:

string s = "this - is a string   - with hyphens  -     in it";
string[] groups = s.Split(
                       new[] { '-', ' ' },
                       StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries
                  );
string t = String.Join("-", groups);

Upvotes: 9

Robert Giesecke
Robert Giesecke

Reputation: 4314

Regexes are your friend here. You can create a pattern, where all consecutive spaces/hyphens are a single match.

  var hyphenizerRegex = new Regex(@"(?:\-|\s)+");
  var result = hyphenizerRegex.Replace("a - b c -d-e", "-");

Upvotes: 0

brendan
brendan

Reputation: 29976

Regex: 

var sampleString = "this - is a string   - with hyphens  -     in it";
var trim = Regex.Replace(sampleString, @"\s*-\s*", "-" );

Upvotes: 0

Welbog
Welbog

Reputation: 60398

This looks like a job for regular expressions (or tokenization if you prefer that).

Using a regular expression you could slurp up all whitespace and hyphens and replace it with just one hyphen. This expression matches any number of spaces and hyphens:

[- ]+

Alternatively you can split the string up into tokens by whitespace, then recombine the string with hyphens between tokens unless the token itself is a hyphen. Pseudocode:

tokens = split(string," ")
for each token in tokens,
  if token = "-", skip it
  otherwise print "-" and the token

Upvotes: 1

ChrisLively
ChrisLively

Reputation: 88044

If you want all of the words AND existing hypens then another approach would be to split the string into an array breaking on spaces. Then rebuild the string, ignoring any spaces, while injecting hyphens were appropriate.

Upvotes: 0

Nicholas Carey
Nicholas Carey

Reputation: 74197

Try this:

private static readonly Regex rxInternaWhitespace = new Regex( @"\s+" ) ;
private static readonly Regex rxLeadingTrailingWhitespace = new Regex(@"(^\s+|\s+$)") ;
public static string Hyphenate( this string s )
{
  s = rxInternalWhitespace.Replace( s , "-" ) ;
  s = rxLeadingTrailingWhitespace.Replace( s , "" ) ;
  return s ;
}

Upvotes: 0

Raj More
Raj More

Reputation: 48016

In a single line you can do this

Regex.Replace(sampleString, @"\s+", " ").Replace (" ", "-");

Upvotes: 0

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