Split an irregular string into key-value pairs

Question

I have a string that is being submitted by our customers from an application on which I cannot put a validation on their end to restrict sending those kind of strings. So, I am trying to write a C# function to split the string into a key value pair / make sure the string matches a format so that the split into key value will be easy.

Here are my examples (ABCD is common in here) and the answer I get should be in the form of below for the examples

ABCD 1234 should be --> ABCD-1234

ABCD 1234 (two or theree spaces in between) should be ABCD-1234

ABCD 1234 should be(starts with a space) --> ABCD-1234

ABCD XX1234 should be --> ABCD-XX1234

ABCD--Z1234 should be --> ABCD-Z1234

ABCDTE ST QA1234 should be --> ABCD-QA1234

A-BCD 1234 ABCD-1234

Also, if possible, I will need this as well integrated into the same function for the above.

ABCDE-GHI491803 Should be WXYZ-491803

ABCDEFGH CT542021 Should be WXYZ-CT542021

Answer 1

for some of your requirements you can write extension method for string, for example:

public static class StringExtensions
{
    public static string FormatMyString(this string input)
    {
        input = Regex.Replace(input, @"-+", " ");
        return Regex.Replace(input, @"\s+", " ").Replace(" ", "-");
    }
}

then in your code you can use it as follows:

var formatted = "ABCD-- 1234".FormatMyString();

but replacing letters...I don't see any logic there...how many beers did you have?