Splitting a string into chunks of a certain size

Question

Suppose I had a string:

string str = \"1111222233334444\"; 

How can I break this string into chunks of some size?

e.g., breaking t

Answer 1

static IEnumerable<string> Split(string str, int chunkSize)
{
   IEnumerable<string> retVal = Enumerable.Range(0, str.Length / chunkSize)
        .Select(i => str.Substring(i * chunkSize, chunkSize))

   if (str.Length % chunkSize > 0)
        retVal = retVal.Append(str.Substring(str.Length / chunkSize * chunkSize, str.Length % chunkSize));

   return retVal;
}

It correctly handles input string length not divisible by chunkSize.

Please note that additional code might be required to gracefully handle edge cases (null or empty input string, chunkSize == 0).

Answer 2

Personally I prefer my solution :-)

It handles:

• String lengths that are a multiple of the chunk size.
• String lengths that are NOT a multiple of the chunk size.
• String lengths that are smaller than the chunk size.
• NULL and empty strings (throws an exception).
• Chunk sizes smaller than 1 (throws an exception).

It is implemented as a extension method, and it calculates the number of chunks is going to generate beforehand. It checks the last chunk because in case the text length is not a multiple it needs to be shorter. Clean, short, easy to understand... and works!

    public static string[] Split(this string value, int chunkSize)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) throw new ArgumentException("The string cannot be null.");
        if (chunkSize < 1) throw new ArgumentException("The chunk size should be equal or greater than one.");

        int remainder;
        int divResult = Math.DivRem(value.Length, chunkSize, out remainder);

        int numberOfChunks = remainder > 0 ? divResult + 1 : divResult;
        var result = new string[numberOfChunks];

        int i = 0;
        while (i < numberOfChunks - 1)
        {
            result[i] = value.Substring(i * chunkSize, chunkSize);
            i++;
        }

        int lastChunkSize = remainder > 0 ? remainder : chunkSize;
        result[i] = value.Substring(i * chunkSize, lastChunkSize);

        return result;
    }

Answer 3

static IEnumerable<string> Split(string str, double chunkSize)
{
    return Enumerable.Range(0, (int) Math.Ceiling(str.Length/chunkSize))
       .Select(i => new string(str
           .Skip(i * (int)chunkSize)
           .Take((int)chunkSize)
           .ToArray()));
}

and another approach:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {

        var x = "Hello World";
        foreach(var i in x.ChunkString(2)) Console.WriteLine(i);
    }
}

public static class Ext{
    public static IEnumerable<string> ChunkString(this string val, int chunkSize){
        return val.Select((x,i) => new {Index = i, Value = x})
                  .GroupBy(x => x.Index/chunkSize, x => x.Value)
                  .Select(x => string.Join("",x));
    }
}

Answer 4

List<string> SplitString(int chunk, string input)
{
    List<string> list = new List<string>();
    int cycles = input.Length / chunk;

    if (input.Length % chunk != 0)
        cycles++;

    for (int i = 0; i < cycles; i++)
    {
        try
        {
            list.Add(input.Substring(i * chunk, chunk));
        }
        catch
        {
            list.Add(input.Substring(i * chunk));
        }
    }
    return list;
}

Answer 5

    public static List<string> SplitByMaxLength(this string str)
    {
        List<string> splitString = new List<string>();

        for (int index = 0; index < str.Length; index += MaxLength)
        {
            splitString.Add(str.Substring(index, Math.Min(MaxLength, str.Length - index)));
        }

        return splitString;
    }

Answer 6

Simple and short:

// this means match a space or not a space (anything) up to 4 characters
var lines = Regex.Matches(str, @"[\s\S]{0,4}").Cast<Match>().Select(x => x.Value);