How to: Use Regular Expressions to Rearrange Data (C++/CLI)

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The following code example demonstrates how the .NET Framework regular expression support can be used to rearrange, or reformat data. The following code example uses the Regex and Match classes to extract first and last names from a string and then display these name elements in reverse order.

The Regex class is used to construct a regular expression that describes the current format of the data. The two names are assumed to be separated by a comma and can use any amount of white-space around the comma. The Match method is then used to analyze each string. If successful, first and last names are retrieved from the Match object and displayed.

Example

// regex_reorder.cpp  
// compile with: /clr  
#using <System.dll>  
using namespace System;  
using namespace Text::RegularExpressions;  
  
int main()  
{  
   array<String^>^ name =   
   {  
      "Abolrous, Sam",   
      "Berg,Matt",   
      "Berry , Jo",  
      "www.contoso.com"  
   };  
  
   Regex^ reg = gcnew Regex("(?<last>\\w*)\\s*,\\s*(?<first>\\w*)");  
  
   for ( int i=0; i < name->Length; i++ )  
   {  
      Console::Write( "{0,-20}", name[i] );  
      Match^ m = reg->Match( name[i] );  
      if ( m->Success )  
      {  
         String^ first = m->Groups["first"]->Value;  
         String^ last = m->Groups["last"]->Value;  
         Console::WriteLine("{0} {1}", first, last);  
      }  
      else  
         Console::WriteLine("(invalid)");  
   }  
   return 0;  
}  

See Also

.NET Framework Regular Expressions
.NET Programming with C++/CLI (Visual C++)