How to replace a word with another, but considering the spaces?-CodePudding

I have this function:

public static string Autocorrect(string input) 
{
    string output = "";
    output = input.Replace("ad", "and");
    return output;
}

It replace all the "ad" occurrences with and, but also to word ads -> ands, the expectation in this example is that ads should remain the same. I want to replace only the word ad, not if a word contains "ad". How can I do this?

CodePudding user response：

You can try regular expressions:

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

...

public static string Autocorrect(string input) => string.IsNullOrEmpty(input)
  ? input
  : Regex.Replace(input, @"\bad\b", "and");

Pattern @"\bad\b" explained:

  \b - word boundary (white space, punctuation, beginning of the string etc.)
  ab - just "ab"
  \b - word boundary (white space, punctuation, end of the string etc.)

CodePudding user response：

add spcace before and after ad

output = input.Replace(" ad ", "and");
//or
//output =Regex.Replace(input, @"\bad\b", "and")

If you want to be space before and after and

output = input.Replace(" ad ", " and ");
//or
//output =Regex.Replace(input, @"\bad\b", " and ")