String.Split is convenient for splitting a string with in multiple part on a delimiter.
How should I go on splitting a string only on the first delimiter. E.g. I've a String
"Time: 10:12:12\r\n"
And I'd want an array looking like
{"Time","10:12:12\r\n"}
The best approach depends a little on how flexible you want the parsing to be, with regard to possible extra spaces and such. Check the exact format specifications to see what you need.
yourString.Split(new char[] { ':' }, 2)
Will limit you two 2 substrings. However, this does not trim the space at the beginning of the second string. You could do that in a second operation after the split however.
yourString.Split(new char[] { ':', ' ' }, 2,
StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
Should work, but will break if you're trying to split a header name that contains a space.
yourString.Split(new string[] { ": " }, 2,
StringSplitOptions.None);
Will do exactly what you describe, but actually requires the space to be present.
yourString.Split(new string[] { ": ", ":" }, 2,
StringSplitOptions.None);
Makes the space optional, but you'd still have to TrimStart() in case of more than one space.
To keep the format somewhat flexible, and your code readable, I suggest using the first option:
string[] split = yourString.Split(new char[] { ':' }, 2);
// Optionally check split.Length here
split[1] = split[1].TrimStart();
.Select(s=> s.Trim()) is how I often trim the results of SplitIn your example above you could split on ": " (i.e. colon with trailing space) as this appears to be what you've done. If you really did split on just the first delimeter you'd see a leading space in your second array element.
However, you should probably look at this overload of Split...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c1bs0eda.aspx
public string[] Split(
char[] separator,
int count
)
... which allows you to specify a max number of substrings.
?("Time: 10:12:12\r\n").Split(new char[] { ':', ' ' }, 2,
StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
{Dimensions:[2]}
[0]: "Time"
[1]: "10:12:12\r\n"
other options:
?("Time: 10:12:12\r\n").Split(new char[] { ':' }, 2)
{Dimensions:[2]}
[0]: "Time"
[1]: " 10:12:12\r\n"
?("Time: 10:12:12\r\n").Split(new char[] { ':' }, 1)
{Dimensions:[1]}
[0]: "Time: 10:12:12\r\n"
?("Time: 10:12:12\r\n").Split(new char[] { ':' }, 3)
{Dimensions:[3]}
[0]: "Time"
[1]: " 10"
[2]: "12:12\r\n"
I've adopted a variation to Thorarin's answer above, The below should be able to handle your requirement, plus trim the spaces.
yourString.Split(new []{'-'},2).Select(s => s.Trim())
For .NET 5 upwards you can use this:
string[] split = yourString.Split(new[] {':'}, 2, StringSplitOptions.TrimEntries);
:fromTimeand anyway, not what was asked