Matching multiple chars in string using regex

Question

I have a the following path which I need to convert to URL.

string path = @"\\TestServer\User_Attachments$\Data\Reference\Input\Test.png";

I'm trying to replace the replace the special chars in this string. So

1. \\\\ will become // with an https added at the front ie https://`
2. \\ will become /
3. User_Attachments$ will become User_Attachments

The final string should look like

string url = "https://TestServer/User_Attachments/Data/Reference/Input/Test.png"

To achieve this I've come up with the following regex

string pattern = @"^(.{2})|(\\{1})|(\${1})";

I then match using the Matches() method as:

var match = Regex.Matches(path, pattern);

My question is how can I check to see if the match is success and replace the appropriate value at the appropriate group and have a final url string as I mentioned above.

Here is the link to the regex

Answer 1

As mentioned above, i'd go for a simple Replace :

string path = @"\\TestServer\User_Attachments$\Data\Reference\Input\Test.png";
var url = path.Replace(@"\\", @"https://").Replace(@"\", @"/").Replace("$", string.Empty); 
// note if you want to get rid of all special chars you would do the last bit differently

For example, taken out of one of these SO answers here: How do I remove all non alphanumeric characters from a string except dash?

// assume str contains the data with special chars

char[] arr = str.ToCharArray();

arr = Array.FindAll<char>(arr, (c => (char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) 
                                  || char.IsWhiteSpace(c) 
                                  || c == '-'
                                  || c == '_')));
str = new string(arr);

Answer 2

You can do it like this

string path = @"\\TestServer\User_Attachments$\Data\Reference\Input\Test.png";

string actualUrl=path.Replace("\\","https://").Replace("\","/")