In C#: Add Quotes around string in a comma delimited list of strings

Question

This probably has a simple answer, but I must not have had enough coffee to figure it out on my own: If I had a comma delimited string such as: ``` string list = "Fred,Sam,Mike,Sarah"; ``` How would get each element and add quotes around it and stick it back in a string like this: ``` string newList = "'Fred','Sam','Mike','Sarah'"; ``` I'm assuming iterating over each one would be a start, but I got stumped after that. One solution that is ugly: ``` int number = 0; string newList = ""; foreach (string item in list.Split(new char[] {','})) { if (number > 0) { newList = newList + "," + "'" + item + "'"; } else { newList = "'" + item + "'"; } number++; } ```

Accepted Answer

```
string s = "A,B,C";
string replaced = "'"+s.Replace(",", "','")+"'";
```

Thanks for the comments, I had missed the external quotes.

Of course.. if the source was an empty string, would you want the extra quotes around it or not ? And what if the input was a bunch of whitespaces... ? I mean, to give a 100% complete solution I'd probably ask for a list of unit tests but I hope my gut instinct answered your core question.

Update: A LINQ-based alternative has also been suggested (with the added benefit of using String.Format and therefore not having to worry about leading/trailing quotes):

```
string list = "Fred,Sam,Mike,Sarah";
string newList = string.Join(",", list.Split(',').Select(x => string.Format("'{0}'", x)).ToList());
```

In C#: Add Quotes around string in a comma delimited list of strings

Solution

Problem