How to identify Date in a String

[K V Sekhar]

Hi all, How to identify Date in a String ? The string may contains different sysmbols and alpha numeric values including Date (like hj/dfsks jh/f12/353 @@2df 23/11/2008 kjdl jf\ioi jr4398 rjeo i") Please suggest me how to find that. Thanks in advance

[Simon P Stevens]

You can use regular expressions to parse strings and extract data formatted in specific ways. You will need to create a Regex[^] object with the require pattern you want to match. There is a guide to .net regular expressions here[^]. This is also quite a good resource for regular expressions: http://www.regular-expressions.info/[^] You might want to consider downloading something like Expresso[^] to test your regular expression patterns.

Simon

[sph3rex]

Rather than using the regex aproach i would suggest Date.TryParse(in "string containing date", out date_object) ... as date varies on localization it might be a lil overhead building a regex to handle all kinds of formatting and might require, depending on case, a lot more processing time.

Code? Yeah i love it fried together with a glass of wine.

[realJSOP]

Based on the string you provided...

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Text;

namespace TestConsole
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string myString = "hj/dfsks jh/f12/353 @@2df 23/11/2008 kjdl jf\\ioi jr4398 rjeo i";
string[] parts = myString.Split(' ');
DateTime dateFound;
CultureInfo culture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US");
DateTimeStyles styles = DateTimeStyles.None;

		foreach (string part in parts)
		{
			DateTime date;
			if (DateTime.TryParseExact(part, "dd/MM/yyyy", culture, styles, out date))
			{
				dateFound = date;
				break;
			}
		}

	}
}

}

"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001