Taking part of string based on multiple delimiters?

Question

I have a string with parentheses and I wish to extract only the portion of the string inside the parentheses.

For example, from the following string:

"abc(def)ghi"

I'd like to get "def", with no parentheses.

I have done some searching but the closest thing I've found so far is String.Split():

string s = "3,2,4,5,6";
string[] words = s.Split(',');

But String.Split only takes 1 delimiter at a time. Is there a better way to grab only the string inside the parentheses?

You can use a Regex like the one shown here http://stackoverflow.com/a/8526268/187697 — keyboardP, Sep 26 '13 at 20:14
You can add as many delimiters as you like: s.Split('(',')') should work in your case. — hendrik, Sep 27 '13 at 11:01

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 26 '13 at 20:17

7

Regex can help here

string input = "abc(def)ghi";
var def = Regex.Match(input, @"\((.+?)\)").Groups[1].Value;

answered Sep 26 '13 at 20:17

L.B

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '13 at 20:18

1

You can split on multiple chars: s.Split("()".ToCharArray()). Not sure whether that is the right solution for you, or a regex is.

answered Sep 26 '13 at 20:18

usr

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You dont need to convert the string to char array. You can simply write s.Split('(',')') – hendrik Sep 27 '13 at 10:57

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 26 '13 at 20:18

1

You can pass in an array of chars to split on.

Like so:

string s = "abc(def)ghi";
char[] chars = new char[] { '(', ')' };
string[] parts = s.Split(chars);

answered Sep 26 '13 at 20:18

Sean Hosey

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It will split the string whenever a character matches one of the characters in the char-array. No matter in which order they are entered (both in the array and in the string to be split). – ThoBa Sep 26 '13 at 20:28
if you expecting parts[0] to be "abc", parts[1] to be "def" and parts[2] to be "ghi" then - yes - it would - just like ThoBa stated. – Sean Hosey Sep 26 '13 at 20:28
@L.B if you expect it to be the same result as `abc(def)ghi`, yes. – Tim S. Sep 26 '13 at 20:29

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 26 '13 at 21:46

0

Just another alternative. Simple, double split

        string s = "abc(def)ghi";
        string []first = s.Split('(');
        string[] second = first[1].Split(')');
        Console.WriteLine(second[0]);
        Console.ReadLine();

answered Sep 26 '13 at 21:46

John Ryann

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Taking part of string based on multiple delimiters?

4 Answers4