C# merge lines of strings into groups with specified word

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

I have a text file which look like this:

Name:John
Age:18
Info:(text message)
Name:May
Age:17
Info:(text message)
Name:Jane
Age:17
Info:(text message)

I want to make Name, Age, Info in 1 group. Thus, I make the string like this by the code below,

Name:John,Age:18,Info:(text message)
Name:May,Age:17,Info:(text message)
Name:Jane,Age:17,Info:(text message)

However, the sequence will get disturb if the 'info' part have a long message and go into second line.

<pre>Name:John
Age:18
Info:(text message)
Name:May
Age:17
Info:(text................................
....................................message)
Name:Jane
Age:17
Info:(text message)

Any suggestion if I want to group them with specified word(Name, Age, Info)? So that it would not get disturb when the text message is long.

What I have tried:

string[] lines = myInputString.Split(new[] { "\r\n" }, StringSplitOptions.None);
for (int i = 0; i < lines.Count(); i = i + 3)
{
    var res = string.Join(",", lines.Skip(i).Take(3));

}

Posted 16-Jan-22 15:49pm

Member 14771626

Updated 16-Jan-22 22:32pm

v3

Add a Solution

Comments

BillWoodruff 17-Jan-22 0:36am

Name:John,Age:18,Hobby:(text message)
Name:May,Age:17,Hobby:(text message)
Name:Jane,Age:17,Hobby:(text message)

this is the string output you want ? where each "text message" can havew any number of lines ?

2 solutions

Solution 1

Try the following code:

string[] lines = myInputString.Split(new[] { "\r\n" }, StringSplitOptions.None);
var rgex = new System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex("(Name|Age|Info)");
for (int i = 0; i < lines.Count(); i++)
{
        if (rgex.Match(lines[i]).Success)
        {
                result = result + lines[i] + " ";
                // Add New Line after all concat
                if (lines[i].Contains(")"))
                        result = result + "\n";
        }
        else
        {
                result = result.TrimEnd();
                        result = result + lines[i] + " ";
                // Add New Line after all concat
                if (lines[i].Contains(")"))
                        result = result + "\n";
        }
}

Output:

Quote:
Name:John Age:18 Info:(text message)
Name:May Age:17 Info:(text....................................................................message)
Name:Jane Age:17 Info:(text message)

Posted 16-Jan-22 19:21pm

M Imran Ansari

Comments

lmoelleb 17-Jan-22 3:20am

Your regex will trigger if for example "Age" is somewhere in the text. For example if the hobby is "Bronze Age history". I suggest changing it to check for the beginning of the line and being followed by a colon. That said, Regex is also somewhat complicate for beginners, so String.StartsWith might be a better option even though the code will be a bit longer.

Maciej Los 17-Jan-22 3:47am

Good point!
My virtual 5!

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

RickZeeland · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-16T22:32:00

Solution 2

For a console application:

var lines = File.ReadAllLines(fileName);

foreach (var line in lines)
{
    if (line.StartsWith("Name:"))
    {
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
    else
    {
        Console.Write(", ");
    }

    Console.Write(line);
}

Posted 16-Jan-22 22:32pm

RickZeeland

Updated 16-Jan-22 22:52pm

v2

Comments

Maciej Los 17-Jan-22 11:48am

5ed!

George Swan 17-Jan-22 18:08pm

Brilliant 5ed!