How do I parse a string using C# and regular expressions?

Question

How do I convert the string:

"Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition|C:\\WINDOWS|\\Device\\Harddisk4\\Partition1"

to

"Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition"

...using regular expressions?

I want to cut out all after | symbol. Is it easy to realise it via Regex.Replace? Where could I found syntax description for Regex.Replace patterns?

Answer 1

You don't need a Regex for that. You can use substring:

var text = @"Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk4\Partition1";
text = text.Substring(0,text.IndexOf("|"));

Answer 2

Use String.Split(), which yields a String[], then pick up element zero.

Answer 3

string str = @"Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk4\Partition1";
string str2 = str.Split('|')[0];

str2 = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition"

Answer 4

If you still want to learn some more about Regular expressions here is a good Cheat Sheet and a simple online regex builder tool to get you started.

Answer 5

A simple solution may be to use:

    string szOrig = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition|C:\\WINDOWS|\\Device\\Harddisk4\\Partition1";
    string[] separator = new string[] { "|" };
    string[] szTemp = szOrig.Split(separator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
    string szRequired = szTemp[0];

May not be the best way, but works.

Answer 6

string GetOSType(string data)
{
      return data.Split(Convert.ToChar("|"))[0];
}

this is assuming the string is ALWAYS going to split. Probably to be sure you would want to wrap a try - catch block around this function.

Answer 7

If you're determined to use a regular expression:

Regex p = new Regex(@"([^|]*)|");
string s = @"Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition|C:\\WINDOWS|\\Device\\Harddisk4\\Partition1";
s = p.Match(s).Value;