How to only allow single words to be input using console.readline() in c#?

Question

I have the following code.

Console.Clear();
string encodedMessage = "";

Console.WriteLine("Enter a word to encode");
char[] stringtoencode = Console.ReadLine().ToCharArray();

for (int i = 1; i < stringtoencode.Length; i++)
{
    string currentCharAsString = stringtoencode[i].ToString();
    encodedMessage += currentCharAsString;
}

encodedMessage = encodedMessage + stringtoencode[0].ToString() + "ay";
Console.WriteLine("Your string encodes to backslang as          " +encodedMessage);

It takes a string input from the user and encodes it into a form of backslang (which is a phonetic encryption, which simply moves the first letter of the word to the end of the word and adds 'ay' to the end of the word)

I am using Console.ReadLine() to retrieve the input string. How can I modify the above code so that it only allows the user to enter a single word, following the prompt 'enter a word to encode'?

I think you'd need to loop `ReadKey()` until you hit any whitespace characters, maybe wrap it up as a method `ReadWord()` — James, Sep 29 '15 at 16:19
You'll first have to give a definition of "word". Is "o'clock" a word? Is "fine-tune" one or two words? How many words in "你好世界"? Once you do that, writing the code is simple. — Hans Passant, Sep 29 '15 at 16:23
@JamesBarrass thank you, yes a nice idea I had not thought of that. — GaryDev, Sep 29 '15 at 16:28
@HansPassant good point. I'll be more specific in future, thank you — GaryDev, Sep 29 '15 at 16:28

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '15 at 16:25

2

This will ask the user to input a (new) word if the line read contains a space.

string word;
do
{
    Console.WriteLine("Enter a word to encode");
    word = Console.ReadLine();
} while (word.Contains(' '));
var encodedMessage = word.Substring(1) + word[0]  + "ay";
Console.WriteLine("Your string encodes to backslang as " + encodedMessage);

answered Sep 29 '15 at 16:25

Magnus

45,362
8
80
118

Thank you Magnus, very helpful – GaryDev Sep 29 '15 at 16:29

How to only allow single words to be input using console.readline() in c#?

1 Answers1