shortest way to get first char from every word in a string

Question

I want a shortest way to get 1st char of every word in a string in C#.

what I have done is:

string str = "This is my style";
string [] output = str.Split(' ');
foreach(string s in output)
{
   Console.Write(s[0]+" ");
}

// Output
T i m s

I want to display same output with a shortest way...

Thanks

Bosworth

Well, that is pretty much the shortest way. – Chronister

I actually don't see anything wrong with this method. It's readable and does what it says on the box. Why do you want shorter? Just because something is shorter does not mean it is readable or obvious to what you are doing. What you have here doesn't even need commenting. – Haim

Answer 1

string str = "This is my style"; 
str.Split(' ').ToList().ForEach(i => Console.Write(i[0] + " "));

Guesstimate

Using Array.ForEach(str.Split(' '), s => Console.Write(s[0] + " ")); would be slightly shorter and faster. You might also want to use StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries to handle the situation where the string starts with a space or contains consecutive spaces. – Millardmillboard

Answer 2

var firstChars = str.Split(' ').Select(s => s[0]);

If the performance is critical:

var firstChars = str.Where((ch, index) => ch != ' ' 
                       && (index == 0 || str[index - 1] == ' '));

The second solution is less readable, but loop the string once.

Makeweight

Use .Split(" ", StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries) instead to avoid errors on multiple spaces. – Rachal

Answer 3

Print first letter of each word in a string

string SampleText = "Stack Overflow Com";
string ShortName = "";
SystemName.Split(' ').ToList().ForEach(i => ShortName += i[0].ToString());  

Output:

SOC

Phosphorate

string SampleText = "Stack Overflow Com"; string ShortName = ""; SampleText .Split(' ').ToList().ForEach(i => ShortName += i[0].ToString()); – Infrequency

Answer 4

Regular expressions could be the answer:

  Regex.Matches(text, @"\b(\w{1})")
    .OfType<Match>()
    .Select(m => m.Groups[1].Value)
    .ToArray();

Eadwina

Answer 5

For me this worked better then the others and still very flexible:

string.Join("", str.Split(" ").Select(x => x[0]).ToArray())

Orsa

how this is better than the others if is the same answer but with a join? – Bilberry

@Leandro: it's better for 'simple folk' like me who are searching for a method to get an abbreviation for a name (John Doe => JD). But you're correct, in the essence of the question, there is nothing new or better. – Orsa

Answer 6

I think your solution is perfectly fine, but if you want better performance you can try:

string str = "This is my style";
Console.Write(str[0]);
for(int i = 1; i < str.Length; i++)
{
    if(str[i-1] = " ")
        Console.Write(" " + str[i]);
}

You might get a lower constant factor with this code but it still runs in O(n). Also, I assume that there will never be more than one space in a row and it won't start with space.

If you want to write less code you can try:

str result = str.Split(" ").Select(y => y[0]).ToList();

Or something.

Brayer

You will have a problem if the string starts with ' '. – Makeweight

Yep... I added a reservation note for that. – Brayer

Answer 7

I work it with a list using LukeH consideration.

List<string> output = new List<string>();
Array.ForEach(str.Split(' ', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries), s => output.Add(s));

Bilberry

Answer 8

string.Join("", YourString.Split(' ').ToList().Select(s => s[0]));

Quito

same answer as @mArt – Aconcagua

yes approx as mArt but no need to use .ToArray() whatever it'll be fast without .ToArray() @EfraimNewman – Quito