Question

Is there a better, more elegant solution to the following method?

Expected input format:

8 h 13 m

Expected output format:

8.13

My code:

private string FormatHours(string value)
{
    //Example: (Input = 10 h 53 m) (Output = 10.53) 
    var timeValues = Regex.Split(value, @"[\shm]", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Where(s => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(s)).ToArray();
    return ((timeValues != null) && (timeValues.Length == 2)) ? string.Format(@"{0:hh}.{1:mm}", timeValues[0], timeValues[1]) : null;
}

Answer 1

I think Regex.Split is overkill here. Regular old Match will give you exactly what you want:

private static string FormatHours(string value)
{
    Match m = Regex.Match(value, @"^(?<hours>\d{1,2}) h (?<minutes>\d{1,2}) m$");
    if (m.Success)
    {
        int hours = int.Parse(m.Groups["hours"].Value);
        int minutes = int.Parse(m.Groups["minutes"].Value);
        if (hours >= 0 && hours < 24 && minutes >= 0 && minutes < 60)
            return string.Concat(hours, ".", minutes);
    }
    return null;   
}