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How to replace different/multiple chars with white space for each instance of character?

characters to be replaced are \ / : * ? < > |

tbreffni
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Ahmed Atia
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6 Answers6

8

You can achieve this with string.Split and string.Join:

string myString = string.Join(" ", input.Split(@"\/:*?<>|".ToCharArray()));

Out of curiousity tested this for performance, and it is considerably faster than the Regex approach.

Fredrik Mörk
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  • +1 for originality and an approach I started out with but didn't conclude (and for showing me `string.Join` instead of `Split(..).Join()`) :) – Abel Oct 27 '09 at 18:13
  • the funny thing about this answer is that depending on which you are more familiar with, this could be more/less readable than RegEx. But for me, RegEx is more readable. – Aaron Hoffman Oct 27 '09 at 18:15
  • According to Jon Skeet's answer http://stackoverflow.com/a/1280227/52277 performance depends on input format – Michael Freidgeim Jul 04 '13 at 11:42
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Regex.Replace(@"my \ special / : string", @"[\\/:*?<>|]", " ");

I might have some of the escapes wrong... :/

JustLoren
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  • Unfortunately, they are wrong and it won't compile. I think you mean this: `Regex.Replace(@"my \ ?? special / : string", @"[\\/:\*?<>|]", " ");` (note that `\?` etc is allowed, but not necessary in a character class) – Abel Oct 27 '09 at 18:08
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System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(input, @"[\\/:*?<>|]", " ")

Joren
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  • actually I think you mean. @"[\\/:*\?\\|]", because many of those characters are Reg Ex control characters. – Nick Berardi Oct 27 '09 at 18:00
  • Regex control characters are not regex control characters inside a character class, with the exception of `-`, `[` and `\\`. – Abel Oct 27 '09 at 18:05
  • You're right, I should've thought about character escapes a bit more. I've edited to something I do think is correct. – Joren Oct 27 '09 at 18:47
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Look at the String API methods in C#.

String.replace would work, if you called it seven times.
Or String.indexOfAny in a loop, using String.remove and String.insert.

Going the efficient lines of code way, Regexp.

Dean J
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Here's a compilable piece of code:

// input
string input = @"my \ ?? spe<<||>>cial / : string";

// regex
string test = Regex.Replace(input, @"[\\/:*?<>|]", " ");

// test now contains "my      spe      cial     string"

Note: this post is a fix of the original JustLoren's code, it's not entirely mine.

Abel
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0

You can do it using Regex

static void Main(string[] args)       
{        
    string myStr = @"\ / : * ? < > |";
    Regex myRegex = new Regex(@"\\|\/|\:|\*|\?|\<|\>|\|");
    string replaced = myRegex.Replace(myStr, new MatchEvaluator(OnMatch));
    Console.WriteLine(replaced);    
}

private static string OnMatch(Match match)
{
    return " ";
}
Fredrik Mörk
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  • when posting code, indent it with four spaces (or click the Code button) to get it correctly colored and laid out. – Abel Oct 27 '09 at 18:16