Color specific words in RichtextBox

Question

How can I make, that when the user types specific words like 'while' or 'if' in a rich textbox, the words will color purple without any problems? I've tried diffrent codes, but none of them were usable. The codes were like below:

if (richTextBox.Text.Contains("while"))
  {
    richTextBox.Select(richTextBox.Text.IndexOf("while"), "while".Length);
    richTextBox.SelectionColor = Color.Aqua;
  }

Also, I want that when the user removes the word or removes a letter from the word, the word will color back to its default color. I'm making a program with a code editor in it.

I am using Visual c#.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Add an event to your rich box text changed,

  private void Rchtxt_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            this.CheckKeyword("while", Color.Purple, 0);
            this.CheckKeyword("if", Color.Green, 0);
        }



private void CheckKeyword(string word, Color color, int startIndex)
    {
        if (this.Rchtxt.Text.Contains(word))
        {
            int index = -1;
            int selectStart = this.Rchtxt.SelectionStart;

            while ((index = this.Rchtxt.Text.IndexOf(word, (index + 1))) != -1)
            {
                this.Rchtxt.Select((index + startIndex), word.Length);
                this.Rchtxt.SelectionColor = color;
                this.Rchtxt.Select(selectStart, 0);
                this.Rchtxt.SelectionColor = Color.Black;
            }
        }
    }

Answer 2

This is something that you can do, I would recommend using a regular expression to find all matches of the word in case it occurs many times. Also keep in mind that the string find could be a list of strings out side of a for loop to consider multiple words but this should get you started.

//dont foget to use this at the top of the page
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

    private void richTextBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string find = "while";
        if (richTextBox1.Text.Contains(find))
        {
            var matchString = Regex.Escape(find);
            foreach (Match match in Regex.Matches(richTextBox1.Text, matchString))
            {
            richTextBox1.Select(match.Index, find.Length);
            richTextBox1.SelectionColor = Color.Aqua;
            richTextBox1.Select(richTextBox1.TextLength, 0);
            richTextBox1.SelectionColor = richTextBox1.ForeColor;
            };
        }
    }

Answer 3

You can use richTextBox1_KeyDown event

private void richTextBox1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Space)
            {
                String abc = this.richTextBox1.Text.Split(' ').Last();
                if (abc == "while")
                {
                    int stIndex = 0;
                    stIndex = richTextBox1.Find(abc, stIndex, RichTextBoxFinds.MatchCase);
                    richTextBox1.Select(stIndex, abc.Length);
                    richTextBox1.SelectionColor = Color.Aqua;
                    richTextBox1.Select(richTextBox1.TextLength, 0);
                    richTextBox1.SelectionColor = richTextBox1.ForeColor;
                }
            }
        }

Answer 4

If instead of a word you want to highlight a regular expression, you can use this:

   private void ColorizePattern(string pattern, Color color)
   {
            int selectStart = this.textBoxSrc.SelectionStart;                
            foreach (Match match in Regex.Matches(textBoxSrc.Text, pattern))
            {
                textBoxSrc.Select(match.Index, match.Length);
                textBoxSrc.SelectionColor = color;
                textBoxSrc.Select(selectStart, 0);
                textBoxSrc.SelectionColor = textBoxSrc.ForeColor;
            };      
   }