Introduction
I like regexes. I'm not that fond of the syntax, but it's a complex task and the language is understandably complex - and Expresso[^] makes it a lot easier anyway - it's free, and it examines and generates Regular expressions.
But...I also like Linq and Linq methods and the deferred execution they allow. Unfortunately, the two are not compatible: the MatchCollection class does not implement IEnumerable<T>, so you can't use Linq.
So I had a little think, and realised there was nothing stopping me from converting a MatchCollection to an IEnumerable<Match> - it's actually really, really simple: all you need is yield return
The methods
I defined two methods: one for the MatchCollection to Enumerate the Matches, the other for the Match to Enumerate the Groups, and made them simple extension methods:
public static class ExtensionMethods
{
public static IEnumerable<System.Text.RegularExpressions.Group> AsEnumerable(this System.Text.RegularExpressions.GroupCollection gc)
{
foreach (System.Text.RegularExpressions.Group g in gc)
{
yield return g;
}
}
public static IEnumerable<System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match> AsEnumerable(this System.Text.RegularExpressions.MatchCollection mc)
{
foreach (System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match m in mc)
{
yield return m;
}
}
}
And that's all you need...
Using the code
Just include the above class anywhere in your namespace, (or in a class library file, with the appropriate using
statement) and off you go:
string input = "<Polygon>\n" +
" <Vertex x=\"9352.7606\" y=\"8250.6001\" z=\"505.3871\" />\n" +
" <Vertex x=\"9352.7573\" y=\"8250.6001\" z=\"505.3844\" />\n" +
" </Polygon>";
MatchCollection matches = Regex.Matches(input, @"(\d+)(\.\d+)?");
var x = matches.AsEnumerable().Select(m => m.Value);
var y = from match in matches.AsEnumerable()
select match.Value;
History
2014 Mar 28 First version.
2014 Mar 28 Removed unnecessary usage example.
2014 Mar28 Converted references in the text from IEnumerable to IEnumerable<T> - Thanks ProgramFOX! :O
Born at an early age, he grew older. At the same time, his hair grew longer, and was tied up behind his head.
Has problems spelling the word "the".
Invented the portable cat-flap.
Currently, has not died yet. Or has he?