Search for string with few missing characters

Question

I have a big array of strings (characters a-z, A-Z and digits 0-9). I also have an input string, but few characters are missing (Example: /np/tSt/ing/), '/' represents missing character. I have to find every string from my array who can be formed from input string by replacing '/' with any character (Example: inputString1, AnpAtStAngA, 1np2tSt3ing4...). Is there any non brute-force solution for this problem?

Possible duplicate of [Matching strings with wildcard](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30299671/matching-strings-with-wildcard) — Drag and Drop, Jul 16 '18 at 08:30

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 16 '18 at 08:23

4

You can use regular expressions for this. Something like .np.tSt.ing.

public static Regex regex = new Regex(".np.tSt.ing.", RegexOptions.CultureInvariant | RegexOptions.Compiled);

...

bool IsMatch = regex.IsMatch(InputText);

answered Jul 16 '18 at 08:23

dlxeon

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Working perfectly! – Dimitrije Milenkovic Jul 16 '18 at 08:39

Search for string with few missing characters

1 Answers1