How can I split a string into two separate arrays using the .NET framework?

Question

I've got a string containing both ints and a string. How do I split it into two arrays, one for ints and one for the string? I also need to maintain the order because I'm writing a file parsing system that depends on reading in and correctly splitting these strings.

EDIT: Here's a sample input, and what I would like as output:

~Wolf 100 45 4 5

Wolf as a string in an array and the ints in their own separate array.

EDIT: A little more info:

I'm getting five variables from the user and writing them to a file. Then, I'm reading them back in again. I need to be able to identify the numbers by the name. Now that I think about it, actually, I'm not sure splitting the string is the best way to go. Is there a way to put both ints and strings in a single array? That way I can find the name, and know that the next four ints after it belong to it.

Providing sample input and output for us to work with would be nice. — BoltClock
– BoltClock, Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 12:53

Anthony Pegram · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 13:26:26Z

3

Use a Dictionary(Of TKey, TValue) with a String as the key, and an Integer() array as the value. This will give you the lookup functionality you are looking for...

Sub Main()
    Dim Input As String = "~Wolf 100 45 4 5" & Environment.NewLine & _
                          "~Racoon 500 41 9 7"

    Dim Dict As New Dictionary(Of String, Integer())

    For Each Line As String In Input.Split(Environment.NewLine)
        Dim Key As String
        Dim Values As Integer() = New Integer() {}

        For Each LineValue As String In Line.Split(" "c)
            Dim TryInt As Integer

            If Integer.TryParse(LineValue, TryInt) Then
                ReDim Preserve Values(Values.Length)
                Values(Values.Length - 1) = TryInt
            Else
                Key = LineValue.Trim("~")
            End If
        Next

        If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(Key) Then
            Dict.Add(Key, Values)
        End If
    Next

    ' How to use                             \\'
    Dim WolfVals As Integer() = Dict.Item("Wolf")

    For Each Int as Integer in WolfVals
        Console.WriteLine(Int)
    Next

    Console.Read()
End Sub

edited Jul 29, 2010 at 13:26

Anthony Pegram

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answered Jul 29, 2010 at 13:19

Josh Stodola

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5 Comments

Elliot Bonneville Over a year ago

Interesting. I haven't used dictionaries before. Could you explain a little what is going on?

Josh Stodola Over a year ago

@Elliot It is fairly self explanatory. See the input? It reads it line by line, splits each line by a space, builds the integer array, stores the key, then populates the dictionary

Anthony Pegram Over a year ago

Sorry, I was fixing your syntax highlighting. A little hack. Rollback if you wish.

Josh Stodola Over a year ago

@Anthony Ahh, I see. No prob. Wish SO would fix this nonsense.

Elliot Bonneville Over a year ago

@Josh, That makes a little more sense. What's the dim in front of input and dict?

Ricardo Campos · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 13:14:15Z

2

I need to be able to identify the numbers by the name.

I'll not repeat the string.split answers, but perhaps you shouldn't use arrays in both cases but could use an object to represent the user? e.g.

public class User
{
  public string UserName{get;set;}
  public List<int> Parameters= new List<int>();
}

You could then put the user into an array,list, dictionary etc to look up the user and then retrieve the parameters that the user has input.

answered Jul 29, 2010 at 13:14

Ricardo Campos

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1 Comment

Ricardo Campos Over a year ago

The other advantage of this approach is that you could create the class from their input. If you make the class serializable (e.g. [XmlSerializable]) then you could let the framework do the reading/writing for you.

Nealv · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 13:08:22Z

1

As @Fadrian says:

List<int> integers = new List<int>();
List<string> strings= new List<string>();

foreach(var variable in originalstring.split(" ")){
 try{
  integers.Add(Convert.ToInt32(vaiable));
 }
 catch(){
  strings.Add(variable)
 }
}

But from what I can read I would do something else. I would create an XML or database table or somethin.

IF it really has to be in plain text file, use a different delimiter for your name, and numbers: eg

name | number1 ,number2,number...

then split once on "|" and first one is name, second one numbers. Then split the second one on ","

answered Jul 29, 2010 at 13:08

Nealv

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Comments

Fadrian Sudaman · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 13:30:39Z

1

Pseudologic

First split the string into an array
Create a List<int> and List<string>
Iterate thru the array and use Int.TryParse and if the return is true, insert into the List<int>, otherwise List<string>

--- Edited with example -----

var list = line.Split(',', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var intList = new List<int>();
var textList = new List<string>();
int val = 0;
foreach(var item in list)
{
   if(Int.TryParse(item, out val))
    intList.Add(val);
   else
    textList.Add(item);
}

edited Jul 29, 2010 at 13:30

answered Jul 29, 2010 at 12:59

Fadrian Sudaman

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Comments

Hamid Nazari · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 12:56:29Z

0

It depends on how the data is stored in that string. If there's a separator between the numbers, use String.Split()

answered Jul 29, 2010 at 12:56

Hamid Nazari

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1 Comment

Elliot Bonneville Over a year ago

I can easily put a seperator between the numbers, but how do I get two arrays out of String.Split? As far as I know, it outputs one array.

Jaymz · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 13:10:49Z

0

You would have to have 2 different separators, example:

Wolf#100,45,4,5

Then you could perform:

string[] splitTheFirst = String.Split('#');
string[] splitTheSecond = splitTheFirst[0].Split(',');
int[] splitTheThird = splitTheFirst[1].Split(',');

Then you would have an array of strings with the strings from the first split, and an array of ints from the second array from the first split.

answered Jul 29, 2010 at 13:10

Jaymz

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2 Comments

Jaymz Over a year ago

Sorry, you'd have to have them all as string[], as that's what String.Split returns, and then you'd have to do Convert.ToInt32 on each string in splitTheThird - d'oh!

Jaymz Over a year ago

Reading the extra information you've added to your quesion, this won't work for you.

Adrian Zanescu · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29 13:22:52Z

0

string input = "~Wolf 100 45 4 5";
IEnumerable<string> words = input.Split(' ')
                            .Where(a => a != null && a.Trim() != string.Empty);

List<int> numbers = new List<int>();
List<string> strings = new List<string>();
int value;

foreach (string word in words)
{
    if (int.TryParse(word, out value))
    {
        numbers.Add(value);
    }
    else
    {
        strings.Add(word);
    }
}

answered Jul 29, 2010 at 13:22

Adrian Zanescu

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