Manipulating a string

[Ryno Burger]

Hi guys, I needs some help with this challenge I'm facing please. This is my challenge: I have a string with "parent object" and item in the format of pipe delimited between "parent objects" and comma delimited between items. Like this string sample = "Object1**,**Item1**,**Item2**-**Object2**,**Item1**,**Item2**-**Object3**,**Item1**,**Item2"; How will I go about manipulating the string to use the "objects" and items in this format. I basically need to get the "object" and the items and in some cases I will need to work with one entire entry at a time, lets say Object1,Item1,Item2. I am not to familiar with the System.Stringfunctions yet and would love if anybody around here could show me how this could be done or possibly some references. Thanks. R

[Harini N K]

Hi I have added comments for each line. Hope it helps you.

string StrObjectItems = "";
StrObjectItems = "Object1,Item1,Item2-Object2,Item1,Item2-Object3,Item1,Item2";

//You need two string arrays - one for each pipeline and another is that each comma within pipeline strings

string[] StrObjectsArray = StrObjectItems.Split(new char[] { '-' });

//loop thro' each objects as you have splitted into array of strings.
for (int i = 0; i <= StrObjectsArray.GetUpperBound(0); i++)
{
//this string will have first object that is 'Object1,Item1,Item2'
string StrObjects = StrObjectsArray[i].ToString();

//again split the above string as an array
string[] StrItemsArray = StrObjects.Split(new char[] { ',' });

//loop thro' each objects' items as you have splitted into array of strings.
for (int j = 0; j <= StrItemsArray.GetUpperBound(0); j++)
{
string StrItems = StrItemsArray[j].ToString();
}
}

-- modified at 5:23 Tuesday 6th March, 2007

Rate this message. Thank you. Harini :)

[Guffa]

I don't see any pipe (|) characters in the string. I suppose that you mean that the parent strings are delimited by a dash (-). To get the parent string in an array, split on a dash: string[] parents = sample.Split('-'); The property parents.Length will give you the number of strings. To get the child strings of a parent, split it on a comma: string[] children = parents[0].Split(',');

--- single minded; short sighted; long gone;

[Ryno Burger]

Thanks to both of you that replied. It all makes sense now. Thank you once again! R

[Keshav V Kamat 0]

Hi. the following line looks for the character '-' in the string. the flag checks whether it is true or not. then it checks where the character is found, and the substrings are taken into other strings. bool flag=false; flag=sample.Contains("-"); if(flag==true) { int m=sample.IndexOf("-"); string s1 = sample.Substring(0, m); // s1 will contain Object1,Item1,Item2 sample = sample.Remove(0, m+1); // now the sample will contain //Object2,Item1,Item2-Object3,Item1,Item2 } Hence you can repeat the procedure to store the other substrings, maybe in a string arraylist. i hope this helps. keshav kamat siemens india

[Keshav V Kamat 0]

Alternatively, one can use the Split funtion depending upon a special character. string[] string1=sample.Split("-"); the number of members are identified by the string1.Length property, which will give you the count of the members in the new string after the split. Keshav Kamat India.