MatchCollection Class
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Represents the set of successful matches found by iteratively applying a regular expression pattern to the input string.
Inheritance Hierarchy
System.Object
System.Text.RegularExpressions.MatchCollection
Namespace: System.Text.RegularExpressions
Assembly: System (in System.dll)
Syntax
'Declaration
<DefaultMemberAttribute("Item")> _
Public Class MatchCollection _
Implements ICollection, IEnumerable
[DefaultMemberAttribute("Item")]
public class MatchCollection : ICollection,
IEnumerable
The MatchCollection type exposes the following members.
Properties
Name | Description | |
---|---|---|
Count | Gets the number of matches. | |
IsReadOnly | Gets a value that indicates whether the collection is read only. | |
IsSynchronized | Gets a value indicating whether access to the collection is synchronized (thread-safe). | |
Item | Gets an individual member of the collection. | |
SyncRoot | Gets an object that can be used to synchronize access to the collection. |
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Methods
Name | Description | |
---|---|---|
CopyTo | Copies all the elements of the collection to the given array starting at the given index. | |
Equals(Object) | Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) | |
Finalize | Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.) | |
GetEnumerator | Provides an enumerator in the same order as Item. | |
GetHashCode | Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.) | |
GetType | Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.) | |
MemberwiseClone | Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) | |
ToString | Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.) |
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Extension Methods
Name | Description | |
---|---|---|
AsQueryable | Converts an IEnumerable to an IQueryable. (Defined by Queryable.) | |
Cast<TResult> | Converts the elements of an IEnumerable to the specified type. (Defined by Enumerable.) | |
OfType<TResult> | Filters the elements of an IEnumerable based on a specified type. (Defined by Enumerable.) |
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Remarks
The collection is immutable (read-only) and has no public constructor. The Regex.Matches method returns a MatchCollection object.
When applying a regular expression pattern to a particular input string, the regular expression engine uses either of two techniques to build the MatchCollection object:
Direct evaluation.
The MatchCollection object is populated all at once with all matches resulting from a particular call to the Regex.Matches method. This technique is used when the collection's Count property is accessed. It typically is the more expensive method of populating the collection and entails a greater performance hit.
Lazy evaluation.
The MatchCollection object is populated as needed on a match-by-match basis. It is equivalent to the regular expression engine calling the Regex.Match method repeatedly and adding each match to the collection. This technique is used when the collection is accessed through its GetEnumerator method, or when it is accessed using the foreach statement (in C#) or the For Each...Next statement (in Visual Basic).
Examples
The following example code illustrates the use of the MatchCollection class to interrogate a set of Match instances.
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Public Module Example
Public Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock)
' Define a regular expression for repeated words.
Dim rx As New Regex("\b(?<word>\w+)\s+(\k<word>)\b", _
RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
' Define a test string.
Dim text As String = "The the quick brown fox fox jumped over the lazy dog dog."
' Find matches.
Dim matches As MatchCollection = rx.Matches(text)
' Report the number of matches found.
outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("{0} matches found in:", matches.Count) & vbCrLf
outputBlock.Text &= String.Format(" {0}", text) & vbCrLf
' Report on each match.
For Each match As Match In matches
Dim groups As GroupCollection = match.Groups
outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("'{0}' repeated at positions {1} and {2}", _
groups.Item("word").Value, _
groups.Item(0).Index, _
groups.Item(1).Index) & vbCrLf
Next
End Sub
End Module
' The example produces the following output:
' 3 matches found in:
' The the quick brown fox fox jumped over the lazy dog dog.
' 'The' repeated at positions 0 and 4
' 'fox' repeated at positions 20 and 25
' 'dog' repeated at positions 50 and 54
using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
public class Example
{
public static void Demo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock)
{
// Define a regular expression for repeated words.
Regex rx = new Regex(@"\b(?<word>\w+)\s+(\k<word>)\b",
RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);
// Define a test string.
string text = "The the quick brown fox fox jumped over the lazy dog dog.";
// Find matches.
MatchCollection matches = rx.Matches(text);
// Report the number of matches found.
outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0} matches found in:\n {1}",
matches.Count,
text) + "\n";
// Report on each match.
foreach (Match match in matches)
{
GroupCollection groups = match.Groups;
outputBlock.Text += String.Format("'{0}' repeated at positions {1} and {2}",
groups["word"].Value,
groups[0].Index,
groups[1].Index) + "\n";
}
}
}
// The example produces the following output:
// 3 matches found in:
// The the quick brown fox fox jumped over the lazy dog dog.
// 'The' repeated at positions 0 and 4
// 'fox' repeated at positions 20 and 25
// 'dog' repeated at positions 50 and 54
Version Information
Silverlight
Supported in: 5, 4, 3
Silverlight for Windows Phone
Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0
XNA Framework
Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0
Platforms
For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.
Thread Safety
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.