C# Replace text within double quote

Question

This is my first post in this forum. I have text with in double which i want to replace by another text.

This is my full text

"Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor~9999"*"Operational Metrics~Canadian Dollars (Canadian $/US$)~9999"

This text "Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor~9999" will be replace with excel cell address A10 .

I have tried this way but not being able to replace the text within double quote. surely there is problem in my code which i am not able to fix.

string mainstr = "\"" + "Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor~9999" + "\"" + "*" + "\"" + "Operational Metrics~Canadian Dollars (Canadian $/US$)~9999" + "\"";
string replacesfrom = "\"" + "Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor~9999" + "\"";
string replacesto = "A10";
string afterreplace = Regex.Replace(mainstr, replacesfrom, replacesto);

Desired output will be.

"A10"*"Operational Metrics~Canadian Dollars (Canadian $/US$)"

I tried this logic too but still no luck.

public static string ReplaceWholeWord(this string original, string wordToFind, string replacement, RegexOptions regexOptions = RegexOptions.None)
        {
            string pattern = String.Format(@"\b{0}\b", wordToFind);
            string ret = Regex.Replace(original, pattern, replacement, regexOptions);
            return ret;
        }

with above function i try to replace but unfortunately not being able to replace text Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor with A10

Please suggest what to change in my above code.

Answer 1

Regex.Replace works differently than String.Replace. Use

string afterreplace = mainstr.Replace(replacesfrom, replacesto);

Answer 2

first things first, you don't need the "+" in your strings ecxample:

string replacesfrom = "\"" + "Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor" + "\"";

could be:

string replacesfrom = "\"Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor\"";

And what I could understand, this is what you need, to replace:

string afterreplace = mainstr.Replace(replacesfrom, replacesto)

And to get cell adress, if you don't know how, this should work: How can i get the Cell address from excel

Answer 3

If you desperately want to use Regex, continue reading. If not, see Yaroslav's answer

---

The problems are that you havenescaped Regex special characters, iE ( , ) , $ , and /

Your current Regex is Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs (US$/lb) - Lalor~9999 contains special characters ( Regexr explains them better ), basically ( and ) denote a capturing group and $ denotes the end of your string. Meaning we'll have to escape them with a \ . That means your Regex ( replacesfrom ) is now

@"""Operational Metrics~Copper C1 Cash Costs \(US\$\/lb\) - Lalor~9999"""

Here is a do.netfiddle showing that it works