Question

The C# compiler interpolates special character literals like \t for tab, \n for newline etc. But is there a built-in C# or .Net function that can interpolate them at runtime?

For example, at runtime I read a configuration for a text-delimited file format, maybe something like this:

Delimiter: \t
LineEnding: \r\n

Right now the only thing I can think of doing is reading in the string and then performing a Replace() with compiler-interpolated strings:

Delimiter = Delimiter.Replace(@"\n", "\n").Replace(@"\r", "\r");

Answer 1

You can try Regex.Unescape which possible satisfies all your requirements.

foreach (var special in new string[] { @"\n", @"\t", @"\r\n" })
{
    Console.WriteLine("|{0}|", special);
    Console.WriteLine("|{0}|", Regex.Unescape(special));
    Console.WriteLine("----------------------"); 
}

From MSDN:

It replaces the representation of
unprintable characters with the
characters themselves. For example, it
replaces \a with \x07. The character
representations it replaces are \a,
\b, \e, \n, \r, \f, \t, and \v.