Split() string except for certain character combination

Question

I want something like:

"aaaXaaaXaaaXaaaYXaaa".Split('X');

but want it to ignore 'YX'.

Of course I can simply loop and correct for it. But is there a built-in method for that?

Answer 1

You can use a regular expression with a negative lookbehind:

string[] result = Regex.Split(s, "(?<!Y)X");

See it working online: ideone

More information about lookarounds: Lookahead and Lookbehind Zero-Width Assertions