Question

I want to separate a string consisting of one or more two-letter codes separated by commas into two-letter substrings and put them in a string array or other suitable data structure. The result is at one point to be databound to a combo box so this needs to be taken into account.

The string I want to manipulate can either be empty, consist of two letters only or be made up by multiple two-letter codes separated by commas (and possibly a space).

I was thinking of using a simple string array but I’m not sure if this is the best way to go.

So… what data structure would you recommend that I use and how would you implement it?

Answer 1

Definitely at least start with a string array, because it’s the return type of string.Split():

string MyCodes = 'AB,BC,CD'; char[] delimiters = new char[] {',', ' '}; string[] codes = MyCodes.Split(delimiters, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); 

Update: added space to the delimiters. That will have the effect of trimming spaces from your result strings.