convert a csv string without inverted commas to a csv string with inverted commas

Question

Suppose, I've a string as below :

string a = "James,Bond,Tom,,,Cruise,"Tom,Hardy",Angelina";

I want the below output :

string b = ""James","Bond","Tom","","","Cruise","Tom,Hardy","Angelina"";

Any help is deeply appreciated, Thanks in Advance :)

Answer 1

I use the extension method below to split simple CSV's (I didn't write the method). If the CSV is more complex I would use a CSV library (CSVHelper and Tiny CSV Parser come to mind).

public static string[] SplitCSV(this String record)
{
   string[] fields;

   Regex oRegex = new Regex(",(?=([^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*(?![^\"]*\"))");
   fields = oRegex.Replace(record, "\b").Split('\b');

   return fields;
}

Then write your code to add quotes where necessary:

var a = "James,Bond,Tom,,,Cruise,\"Tom,Hardy\",Angelina";

string[] tokens = a.SplitCSV();

for (int i=0; i<tokens.Length;i++)
{
    if (!tokens[i].StartsWith("\""))
    {
       tokens[i] = "\"" + tokens[i] + "\"";
    }
}

var b = String.Join(",", tokens);