String Array Replace Problem

[Jesi523]

Ok, I hope I can explain this so that everybody understands. I have a database where a column has special characters in the fields. I need to remove these characters before printing them to a file. I have the following code:

public string RemoveSpecialChars(string[] args)
    {
        string[] chars = new string[]{",",".","/","!","@","#","$","%","^","&","*","'","\"",";","-","_","(",")",":","|","[","]"," "};
        string[] str = new string[]{};
        
        for(int i = 0; i< chars.Length; i++ )
        {
            if(str.Contains(chars[i]))
                {
                str = str.Replace(chars[i].ToString(),"");
                }
        }
        return str.ToSting();
    }

Then I use the above code like this:

dataType.HL7TypeComponent = RemoveSpecialChars(HL7TypeComponent);

So in the first code I am trying to use an array to collect all the field when it is read from the database. Problem is I do not know how long the array will be because it is coming from the database. First of all I am not sure the code above is correct or if I should even be using an array. Second of all I am getting to errors:
“'System.Array' does not contain a definition for 'Replace' and no extension method 'Replace' accepting a first argument of type 'System.Array' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)”
And
“'System.Array' does not contain a definition for 'ToSting' and no extension method 'ToSting' accepting a first argument of type 'System.Array' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)”
I am using using System.Linq; so I am not sure what I am missing or what I am doing wrong. Can someone please help? Thank you.

[Ketsuekiame]

You can only pass in an array of type "char" not string. Change your string[] to char[] and instead of using "" use ''

Also you're creating a new empty string array? Why? You don't even touch the argument you just passed in.

A string array is an array like this:
"hello" "how are you" "I am fine thanks"

It is not an array of characters which is like this:
'h' 'e' 'l' 'l' 'o'

Array does not have a replace method, where-as String does.

[ddanbe]

Use this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/czx8s9ts.aspx

[Jesi523]

Ok so I am still not understanding. In my code, I am using chars to pull in all the characters I need to find in the string that I am pulling in from the database. I know what a string array is, example of the fields I am pulling in from the database that would go into this array are:
Date/timeOfTransaction
PlacerOrder#
PatientIdExternal(externalId)
Timing/quantity
Etc.

I need to take those fields that come in and remove the characters that are in them before putting them in a file. Please clarify what I am doing wrong because I did not understand that response. Thank you.

[Ketsuekiame]

You can't perform Replace on an array of strings. It has to be a single string object.

[Jesi523]

Then how would I go about doing what I need to do Ketsuekiame? Please

[ddanbe]

What about this:

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string testStr = " 12,23@as&";
            string result = RemoveSpecialChars(testStr);
            Console.WriteLine(result);
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        public static string RemoveSpecialChars(string s)
        {         
            string[] cleanStr = s.Split(new char[]{'.','&','@',','}); //extend chars as needed
            string newStr= string.Empty;
            for (int i = 0; i < cleanStr.Length; i++)
			{
			    newStr += cleanStr[i];
			}
            return newStr;
        }
    }

[Jesi523]

ddanbe I tried your code above and I am getting more errors than i was before.

from this line

string[] cleanStr = s.Split(new char[]{",",".","/","!","@","#","$","%","^","&","*","'","\"",";","-","_","(",")",":","|","[","]"," "});

I am geting connot implicitly convert type string to char.

for these lines:

string[] newStr = string.Empty;
newStr += cleanStr[i];
return newStr;

I am getting Cannot implicitly convert type string to string[].

Please help :(

[ddanbe]

You are defining your char array as a string.
'A' is a char, "A" is a string.
Do you see the difference?
Success!

[Jesi523]

Ok so I changed that and still getting same errors on the rest of the code, so still noe success.

[ddanbe]

Did you carefull check everything?
Else post us some code where your errors appear.

[Jesi523]

I did check everything:

public static string RemoveSpecialChars(string s)
    {
        string[] cleanStr = s.Split(new char[]{',','.','/','!','@','#','$','%','^','&','*',';','-','_','(',')',':','|','[',']',' '});
        string[] newStr = string.Empty;
        
        for(int i = 0; i< cleanStr.Length; i++ )
        {
                newStr += cleanStr[i];
        }
        return newStr;
    }

I get the same error for all three of these lines of code

string.Empty; //gives below error on string
newStr += cleanStr[i]; //gives below error on newStr and cleanStr
return newStr; //gives error below on newStr

gives Cannot implicitly convert type string to string[].

[ddanbe]

OK, so you did not carefully check everything!;)
Otherwise you would have noticed that I declared newStr as a string, not as a string array!
But I forgive you, I make those mistakes ALL the time.:)

[Jesi523]

Ok, your right I did not check carefully enough, sorry I looked at it several times. I guess I missed that, my bad. Thank you for forgiving me. So the code builds not but it will not let me use it on a collection of items coming from the database, I get the error Cannot implicitly convert from string collection to string. :(

[ddanbe]

Is it a string collection you recieve from your DB?

[Jesi523]

Well yes I am reading through the database via a reader and writing this information to different files and its type is a string collection.

[ddanbe]

Something like this? http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/mahesh/1273/

[Jesi523]

I looked at that before I started posting, it is something like that but I do not know how many items are in the collection because it comes from the database. Items are read into memory from a SQLDataReader, then another method writes this information to file. The items are held in a string collection. So I need to get rid of the bad characters in these fields before they are rendered to the file. So that link does not have what I am looking for. Help!!!!

[ddanbe]

Every collection has some form of count.
Look at this, it gives you 3 methods to accomplish this:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.collections.specialized.stringcollection.aspx

[Jesi523]

Ok so I tried something new and its still not working:

public static string RemoveSpecialChars(string[] str)
    {
        string[] chars = new string[]{",",".","/","!","@","#","$","%","^","&","*","'","\"",";","-","_","(",")",":","|","[","]"}; 
        string newStr;
        
        for(int i = 0; i< str.Length; i++ )        
	    {
            for(int j = 0; j< chars.Length; j++)
            {
		        if(str.Contains(chars[j]))            
	            {                
		            newStr = str[i].Replace(chars[j],"");            
	            }
	        }
        }
        
        return newStr;
    }

Getting the error Use of unassigned local variable 'newStr'. So I am assumming that my return is in the wrong spot but I do not understand why. If I move it I get all kinds of other errors. Please let me know what I am doing wrong. Thank you.

[ddanbe]

Trying something new is always positive!
But I already gave you the solution of your problem in a previous post.
I will repeat it here:

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string testStr = " 12,23@as&"; 
            string result = RemoveSpecialChars(testStr); 
            Console.WriteLine(result); 
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        public static string RemoveSpecialChars(string s)
        {
            //string[] chars = new string[] { ",", ".", "/", "!", "@", "#", "$", "%", "^", "&", "*", "'", "\"", ";", "-", "_", "(", ")", ":", "|", "[", "]" };
            //string newStr;

            //for (int i = 0; i < str.Length; i++)
            //{
            //    for (int j = 0; j < chars.Length; j++)
            //    {
            //        if (str.Contains(chars[j]))
            //        {
            //            newStr = str[i].Replace(chars[j], "");
            //        }
            //    }
            //}

            string[] cleanStr = s.Split(new char[] { '.', '&', '@', ',' }); //extend chars as needed    
            string newStr= string.Empty;            
            for (int i = 0; i < cleanStr.Length; i++)			
            {			    
                newStr += cleanStr[i];			
            }            
            return newStr;
        }
    }
}

I you consider your problem solved, please mark it as such.

[Jesi523]

It did not work as I stated to you because I am looping through an array from a database table. So it did not solve my problem.

[ddanbe]

So perhaps this will solve it:

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string[] DBstr = { " 12,23@as&", "6YR$n", "!u!j!&$op" }; // from database
            string[] result = HandleDBstrings(DBstr);
            foreach (string item in result)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(item); 
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        public static string RemoveSpecialChars(string s)
        {
            string[] cleanStr = s.Split(new char[] { ',', '.', '/', '!', '&', '@', '#', '$' }); //extend chars as needed    
            string newStr= string.Empty;            
            for (int i = 0; i < cleanStr.Length; i++)			
            {			    
                newStr += cleanStr[i];			
            }            
            return newStr;
        }

        public static string[] HandleDBstrings(string[] DBstrs)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < DBstrs.Length; i++)
            {
                DBstrs[i] = RemoveSpecialChars(DBstrs[i]);
            }
            return DBstrs;
        }

    }