Regex find comma not inside quotes

Question

I\'m checking line by line in C#

Example data:

bob jones,123,55.6,,,\"Hello , World\",,0
jim neighbor,432,66.5,,,Andy \"Blank,,1
john smith,555,77.4,         


        

Answer 1

The below regex is for parsing each fields in a line, not an entire line

Apply the methodical and desperate regex technique: Divide and conquer

Case: field does not contain a quote

• abc,
• abc(end of line)

[^,"]*(,|$)

Case: field contains exactly two quotes

• abc"abc,"abc,
• abc"abc,"abc(end of line)

[^,"]*"[^"]*"[^,"]*(,|$)

Case: field contains exactly one quote

• abc"abc(end of line)
• abc"abc, (and that there's no quote before the end of this line)

[^,"]*"[^,"]$

[^,"]*"[^"],(?!.*")

Now that we have all the cases, we then '|' everything together and enjoy the resultant monstrosity.