Decoding a string in C#

Question

I have a string like "Akzo_Nobel_N@46@V@46@".

The original string is "Akzo Nobel N.V."

I need to decode it. I have tried like this

public static string Decode(string query)
{
    string dSData = HttpUtility.UrlDecode(query.ToString());
    return dSData;
}

I am not able to decode this into the original string. Please help me decode it.

You need to find out the exact type of encoding - where does the string come from, who encodes it? — Treb, Sep 06 '12 at 08:28
You need a certain pattern to decode. Is it always this case or are there other cases aswell? — lorenz albert, Sep 06 '12 at 08:28
`@46@` is not URL encoded data, so why would you expect `UrlDecode` to work... — verdesmarald, Sep 06 '12 at 08:29
@KirillBestemyanov I get this string from a url, I just splitted the url(using segements) — SRIRAM, Sep 06 '12 at 08:29
This is not a standart URL-encoding, thus the `HttpUtility.UrlDecode`-method won't work. Is there any more detailed information about the encoding? — Spontifixus, Sep 06 '12 at 08:30

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 06 '12 at 08:32

1

public static String Decode(String query) {
    return query.Replace("_", " ").Replace("@46@", ".");
}

More input would provide a better decoding routine.

answered Sep 06 '12 at 08:32

sisve

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This is based on the assumption that these are the only two replacements OP will have to deal with. +1 though, I'm guessing you knew that, and your code is spot on. – Sep 06 '12 at 08:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 06 '12 at 08:31

If all you're ever going to deal with is the 'encoded' version of spaces and full stop characters, then just call a string.replace and replace '_' with ' ' and "@46@" with " ". http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fk49wtc1.aspx. If it's possible you'll come accross other ascii 'encoding' then you'll need to decode in the right way using the right methods (probably from the same class/library that encoded it).

PhonicUK · Answer 3 · 2012-09-06T08:51:13.103

-1

It looks like the format is:

@xx@ where xx is a decimal number for the ASCII character (so a . is 46) and spaces are replaced by underscores.

Looks like a home-brew URL encoding mechanism but could be wrong.

So what you want is a regular expression that looks for something like @[0-9]{1,3}@ and replace it with the actual character represented by the ascii code.

There may be other straight substitutions other than the _ for spaces, but that's as much as I can tell you.

edited Sep 06 '12 at 08:51

answered Sep 06 '12 at 08:37

PhonicUK

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How is that in any way relevant? – PhonicUK Sep 06 '12 at 08:49
1

The string.replace answer will only sort out the _ and @46@, a regular expression is needed to sort out all potential values based on what I have determined the encoding to be. What if they decode another string that has @64@ in it? (which should be an @ character) You'd need a regular expression to find all the combinations. A string.replace on its own is no use for finding complex patterns, but of course you'd not use a regexp.replace for static strings. – PhonicUK Sep 06 '12 at 09:04

Decoding a string in C#

3 Answers3