Split String into smaller Strings by length variable

Question

I\'d like to break apart a String by a certain length variable.
It needs to bounds check so as not explode when the last section of string is not as long as or longer th

Answer 1

    private string[] SplitByLength(string s, int d)
    {
        List<string> stringList = new List<string>();
        if (s.Length <= d) stringList.Add(s);
        else
        {
            int x = 0;
            for (; (x + d) < s.Length; x += d)
            {
                stringList.Add(s.Substring(x, d));
            }
            stringList.Add(s.Substring(x));
        }
        return stringList.ToArray();
    }

Answer 2

Easy to understand version:

string x = "AAABBBCC";
List<string> a = new List<string>();
for (int i = 0; i < x.Length; i += 3)
{
    if((i + 3) < x.Length)
        a.Add(x.Substring(i, 3));
    else
        a.Add(x.Substring(i));
}

Though preferably the 3 should be a nice const.

Answer 3

I had the strange scenario where I had segmented a string, then rearranged the segments (i.e. reversed) before concatenating them, and then I later needed to reverse the segmentation. Here's an update to the accepted answer by @SLaks:

    /// <summary>
    /// Split the given string into equally-sized segments (possibly with a 'remainder' if uneven division).  Optionally return the 'remainder' first.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="str">source string</param>
    /// <param name="maxLength">size of each segment (except the remainder, which will be less)</param>
    /// <param name="remainderFirst">if dividing <paramref name="str"/> into segments would result in a chunk smaller than <paramref name="maxLength"/> left at the end, instead take it from the beginning</param>
    /// <returns>list of segments within <paramref name="str"/></returns>
    /// <remarks>Original method at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3008718/split-string-into-smaller-strings-by-length-variable </remarks>
    private static IEnumerable<string> ToSegments(string str, int maxLength, bool remainderFirst = false) {
        // note: `maxLength == 0` would not only not make sense, but would result in an infinite loop
        if(maxLength < 1) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("maxLength", maxLength, "Should be greater than 0");
        // correct for the infinite loop caused by a nonsensical request of `remainderFirst == true` and no remainder (`maxLength==1` or even division)
        if( remainderFirst && str.Length % maxLength == 0 ) remainderFirst = false;

        var index = 0;
        // note that we want to stop BEFORE we reach the end
        // because if it's exact we'll end up with an
        // empty segment
        while (index + maxLength < str.Length)
        {
            // do we want the 'final chunk' first or at the end?
            if( remainderFirst && index == 0 ) {
                // figure out remainder size
                var remainder = str.Length % maxLength;
                yield return str.Substring(index, remainder);

                index += remainder;
            }
            // normal stepthrough
            else {
                yield return str.Substring(index, maxLength);
                index += maxLength;
            }
        }

        yield return str.Substring(index);
    }//---  fn  ToSegments

(I also corrected a bug in the original while version resulting in empty segment if maxLength==1)

Answer 4

My solution:

public static string[] SplitToChunks(this string source, int maxLength)
{
    return source
        .Where((x, i) => i % maxLength == 0)
        .Select(
            (x, i) => new string(source
                .Skip(i * maxLength)
                .Take(maxLength)
                .ToArray()))
        .ToArray();
}

I actually rather use List<string> instead of string[].

Answer 5

Using Batch from MoreLinq, on .Net 4.0:

public static IEnumerable<string> SplitByLength(this string str, int length)
{
    return str.Batch(length, String.Concat);
}

On 3.5 Concat need an array, so we can use Concat with ToArray or, new String:

public static IEnumerable<string> SplitByLength(this string str, int length)
{
    return str.Batch(length, chars => new String(chars.ToArray()));
}

It may be a bit unintuitive to look at a string as a collection of characters, so string manipulation might be proffered.

Answer 6

It's not particularly succinct, but I might use an extension method like this:

public static IEnumerable<string> SplitByLength(this string s, int length)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i += length)
    {
        if (i + length <= s.Length)
        {
            yield return s.Substring(i, length);
        }
        else
        {
            yield return s.Substring(i);
        }
    }
}

Note that I return an IEnumerable<string>, not an array. If you want to convert the result to an array, use ToArray:

string[] arr = x.SplitByLength(3).ToArray();