Find the index of first matching string from string array or list c#

Question

I Have string in the form

var dummyString = $@"SIGNED APPLICATION AND AFFIDAVIT REQUIRED  LOCATION:  BLK 99, LOT 9 AND BLK 100 LOT 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 RT 38 EAST HAINESPORT, NJ  BASED ON:  VACANT LAND";

What I would like to do is to extract the location/address from this string. I can easily find the index of the LOCATION: but can't think of of efficient solution for the index where i should terminate the string. The easiest option is to iterate over the list and find the index of a state code but this won't be very efficient way of handling it.

What i thought would be the solution to this problem is to use a list of US state codes and then find the index of the first match of any state code after the index of LOCATION: substring with a whitespace so I can find the complete state code and its index.

public const List<string> USStateCodes = new List<string> { "AL", "AK", "AS", "AZ", "AR", "CA", "CO", "CT", "DE", "DC", "FM", "FL", "GA", "GU", "HI", "ID", "IL", "IN", "IA", "KS", "KY", "LA", "ME", "MH", "MD", "MA", "MI", "MN", "MS", "MO", "MT", "NE", "NV", "NH", "NJ", "NM", "NY", "NC", "ND", "MP", "OH", "OK", "OR", "PW", "PA", "PR", "RI", "SC", "SD", "TN", "TX", "UT", "VT", "VI", "VA", "WA", "WV", "WI", "WY" };

Any idea on how to proceed from here?

The output i want is:

BLK 99, LOT 9 AND BLK 100 LOT 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 RT 38 EAST HAINESPORT, NJ

The problem stated here is part of bigger logic where I use regex to find the index of zip code (5 digits) as terminator but in some cases, the zip code may not be present in address (user error). I still have to be able to extract the address.

but can't think of of efficient solution for the index where i should terminate the string. index of "BASED ON:" ? — Selvin
– Selvin, Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 9:38
I could do a for loop for each state code in list and try to find index of the code in the string....but that requires iterating over every item...not very elegant. — user869375
– user869375, Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 9:41
SIGNED APPLICATION AND AFFIDAVIT REQUIRED LOCATION: and BASED ON: VACANT LAND remain same always in the input string? — Prasad Telkikar
– Prasad Telkikar, Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 9:42
No....its a variable value...it keeps on changing except LOCATION is present all the times. — user869375
– user869375, Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 9:43

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-10 09:49:51Z

3

You may use

var dummyString = @"SIGNED APPLICATION AND AFFIDAVIT REQUIRED  LOCATION:  BLK 99, LOT 9 AND BLK 100 LOT 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 RT 38 EAST HAINESPORT, NJ  BASED ON:  VACANT LAND";
var USStateCodes = new List<string> { "AL", "AK", "AS", "AZ", "AR", "CA", "CO", "CT", "DE", "DC", "FM", "FL", "GA", "GU", "HI", "ID", "IL", "IN", "IA", "KS", "KY", "LA", "ME", "MH", "MD", "MA", "MI", "MN", "MS", "MO", "MT", "NE", "NV", "NH", "NJ", "NM", "NY", "NC", "ND", "MP", "OH", "OK", "OR", "PW", "PA", "PR", "RI", "SC", "SD", "TN", "TX", "UT", "VT", "VI", "VA", "WA", "WV", "WI", "WY" };
var result = Regex.Match(dummyString, $@"LOCATION:\s*(.*?\b(?:{string.Join("|", USStateCodes)}))\b")?.Groups[1].Value;

See the C# demo, result output: BLK 99, LOT 9 AND BLK 100 LOT 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 RT 38 EAST HAINESPORT, NJ.

The resulting pattern is

LOCATION:\s*(.*?\b(?:AL|AK|AS|AZ|AR|CA|CO|CT|DE|DC|FM|FL|GA|GU|HI|ID|IL|IN|IA|KS|KY|LA|ME|MH|MD|MA|MI|MN|MS|MO|MT|NE|NV|NH|NJ|NM|NY|NC|ND|MP|OH|OK|OR|PW|PA|PR|RI|SC|SD|TN|TX|UT|VT|VI|VA|WA|WV|WI|WY))\b

See the regex demo.

Details

LOCATION: - a fixed starting string
\s* - 0+ whitespaces
(.*?\b(?:{string.Join("|", USStateCodes)})) - Group 1 (the result will be captured in the group):
- .*? - any 0 or more chars other than newline chars (use RegexOptions.Singleline to match newlines, too), as few as possible
- \b - a word boundary
- (?:{string.Join("|", USStateCodes)}) - creates an alternation group with the state codes (like (?:AL|AK|AS|...|WY)) and matches any one of the alternatives
\b - a word boundary.

edited Apr 10, 2020 at 9:49

answered Apr 10, 2020 at 9:46

Wiktor Stribiżew

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3 Comments

user869375 Over a year ago

Very close but it seems to be missing the state code.

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

No, it is there. See the demo.

user869375 Over a year ago

You are life saver!

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