Replace a variable string with empty string

Question

I have an xml file that I am using linq-to-XML to read. Linq-to-XML is preserving the line breaks and spaces for indenting.

So instead of having a guid like this:

"FB5417E2-DB15-481d-80D6-D0C4CB26EB1F"

I am getting stuff like this:

"\n    FB5417E2-DB15-481d-80D6-D0C4CB26EB1F"

I have made this method to try and help compensate for this:

public static string ValueTrimmed(this XElement element)
{         
    if (element != null)
        // Remove the newlines and spaces
        return element.Value.Replace("\n      ", "");

    return "";
}

The problem is that this only works for "\n" + 6 spaces.

Is there a way to remove "\n" + Any number of spaces?

Note: I have some scenarios where the "\n" + x spaces is on the inside of the value.
For example:

TextTextTextTextTextTextText\n     TextTextTextTextTextTextText

Are there any spaces that need to be preserved?

Josh Stodola
– Josh Stodola

2010-10-21 19:03:35 +00:00
Commented Oct 21, 2010 at 19:03 — Josh Stodola
– Josh Stodola, Commented Oct 21, 2010 at 19:03

Greg · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21 19:06:51Z

7

Remove all newlines followed by spaces:

return Regex.Replace(element.Value, @"\n\s*", String.Empty);

If you want to preserve a single space between lines:

return Regex.Replace(element.Value, @"\n\s*", " ").Trim();

edited Oct 21, 2010 at 19:06

answered Oct 21, 2010 at 19:01

Greg

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Comments

Mark Byers · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21 18:58:06Z

4

You could try using string.Trim to remove all leading and trailing whitespace:

return element.Value.Trim();

answered Oct 21, 2010 at 18:58

Mark Byers

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1 Comment

Vaccano Over a year ago

That would work for the example I showed, but I have text that has wrapped across several lines (ie TextTextText\n texttexttext)

Dirk Vollmar · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21 19:08:14Z

3

Instead of fiddling around with regular expressions, specify whether white-space is preserved or not when you create your XDocument using the appropriate LoadOptions:

Preserve white-space:

var xdoc1 = XDocument.Parse("<root>\r\n</root>", LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);
var xdoc2 = XDocument.Load(@"\path\to\xml", LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);

Ignore white-space:

var xdoc1 = XDocument.Parse("<root>\r\n</root>", LoadOptions.None);
var xdoc2 = XDocument.Load(@"\path\to\xml", LoadOptions.None);

answered Oct 21, 2010 at 19:08

Dirk Vollmar

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Comments

abatishchev · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21 18:59:43Z

1

string result = input
    .Replace("\\n", String.Empty) // replace escaped \n with nothing
    .Trim(); // removing leading (and trailing) spaces

or (try, not sure)

string result = input.Trim(new[] { '\n' });

answered Oct 21, 2010 at 18:59

abatishchev

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Comments

IWriteApps · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21 19:22:06Z

enter code hereIf were you, inside the outer if place another if checking for "\n" and if that returns true then in a loop check for "\" or "n" or " " and replace with "".

Essentially something like this in pseudo-code...

if (string != null) //check if string is not null
{
    if ((string.indexOf(0) == "\\") && (string.indexOf(1) == "n")) //check if string begins with \n
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < string.length; i++) \\since string begins with "\n" iterate until each character is neither "\", "n", " " and replace each one of those with ""
        {
            if((string.indexOf(i) == "\\") || (string.indexOf(i) == "n") || (string.indexOf(i) == " "))
                string.indexOf(i) = "";
        }

    }
}

excuse me, that might be a little messy and some of the syntax may be slightly off, but you get the jist.

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