Question

I have a string .. let’s say:

string MyString = "SELECT Stuff FROM Table WHERE Code = "Foo" AND DATE=20120101";

I want to replace 20120101 with a ?. But, the 20120101 string I search for won’t always be the same. It will always start with a 2, and always contain 8 characters. It may be 20121225, 20130510, etc.

Can I use wildcards somehow? As in:

string Fixed = MyString.Replace("2*******", "?");

What I’m looking for is this result:

MyString = "SELECT Stuff FROM Table WHERE Code = "Foo" AND DATE=?";

Answer 1

string Fixed = Regex.Replace( MyString, @"DATE=2\d{7}", "DATE=?" ); 

Or alternatively, using a positive look-behind

 Replace( MyString, @"(?<=DATE=)2\d{7}", "?" );