C#

Kevin Marois wrote:

There has to be a way to prevent a file from being touched by the user.

Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Kevin Marois wrote:

This app isn't targeted to programmers.

Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

int lastindexof = searchString.ToList().FindLastIndex(']');

private string test = @"Sample1[Model:M1; Year:1990]Sample2[Model:M3; Year:1997];"

List<Point> bracketIndexes = new List<Point>();

char rBrack = '[';
char lBrack = ']';

int loc = 0;
int limit = test.Length;
int brackStart, brackEnd;

while (loc < limit)
{
    brackStart = test.IndexOf(rBrack, loc);
    if (brackStart == -1) break;
    
    brackEnd = test.IndexOf(lBrack, brackStart + 1);
    if (brackEnd == -1) break;
    
    loc += brackEnd;
    
    bracketIndexes.Add(new Point(brackStart, brackEnd));
    
    loc++;
}

foreach (Point pt in bracketIndexes)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0} at {1} : {2} at {3}", test[pt.X], pt.X, test[pt.Y], pt.Y);
};

// actual output to Console:
//[ at 7 : ] at 27
//[ at 35 : ] at 55

Regex findEm = new Regex(@"(?<=Sample)(?<SampleNo>\d+)(?<Start>\[)(?<Data>.*?)(?<End>\])");
string input = "Sample1[Model:M1; Year:1990]";
Match m = findEm.Match(input);
if (m.Success)
    {
    Console.WriteLine("Sample {0}: {1}{2}{3}\n       {4}, {5}",
                        m.Groups["SampleNo"].Value,
                        m.Groups["Start"].Value,
                        m.Groups["Data"].Value,
                        m.Groups["End"].Value,
                        m.Groups["Start"].Index,
                        m.Groups["End"].Index);
    }

Sample 1: [Model:M1; Year:1990]
       7, 27

public static string BetweenChars(this string text, char left, char right)
{
    string result = string.Empty;
    int leftPos = text.IndexOf(left, 0)+1;
    int rightPos = text.LastIndexOf(right);
    if (leftPos >= 0 && rightPos > leftPos)
    {
        result = text.Substring(leftPos, rightPos - leftPos);
    }
    return result;
}

public static void DelimiterPos(this string text, char left, char right, out int leftPos, out int rightPos)
{
    string result = string.Empty;
    leftPos = text.IndexOf(left, 0);
    rightPos = text.LastIndexOf(right);
}