TrimDuplicates
Trims or removes duplicate delimited characters and leave only one instance of that character. If you like to have a comma delimited value and you like to remove excess commas, this extension method is for you. Other characters are supported too, this includes pipe and colon.
Source
static class Strings
{
public enum TrimType
{
Comma,
Pipe,
Colon
}
public static string TrimDuplicates(this string input, TrimType trimType)
{
string result = string.Empty;
switch (trimType)
{
case TrimType.Comma:
result = input.TrimCharacter(',');
break;
case TrimType.Pipe:
result = input.TrimCharacter('|');
break;
case TrimType.Colon:
result = input.TrimCharacter(':');
break;
default:
break;
}
return result;
}
private static string TrimCharacter(this string input, char character)
{
string result = string.Empty;
result = string.Join(character.ToString(), input.Split(character)
.Where(str => str != string.Empty)
.ToArray());
return result;
}
}Example
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string input = string.Empty;
Console.WriteLine("Clean Commas");
input = "justin,tesla,,nine,,,,,,elevate,,,joel";
Console.WriteLine("INPUT: {0}\nOUTPUT: {1}\n", input, input.TrimDuplicates(Strings.TrimType.Comma));
// OUTPUTS: justin,tesla,nine,elevate,joel
Console.WriteLine("Clean Pipe");
input = "justin|tesla||nine||||||elevate|||joel";
Console.WriteLine("INPUT: {0}\nOUTPUT: {1}\n", input, input.TrimDuplicates(Strings.TrimType.Pipe));
// OUTPUTS: justin|tesla|nine|elevate|joel
Console.WriteLine("Clean Colon");
input = "justin:tesla::nine::::::elevate:::joel";
Console.WriteLine("INPUT: {0}\nOUTPUT: {1}\n", input, input.TrimDuplicates(Strings.TrimType.Colon));
// OUTPUTS: justin:tesla:nine:elevate:joel
Console.ReadLine();
}