5 replies to this topic

[Termana]

In C#, there is no in-built reverse string algorithm (that I know of anyhow), so you need to build your own function to do so.

1. Start a new project (File -> New Project -> Console Application -> OK)
2. In the main function we are going to just read a line and call our reverse function to print it to the screen, so we'll use this code:

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            string readline;

            readline = ReverseString(Console.ReadLine());

            Console.WriteLine(readline);

        }

3. Now we need to put in the ReverseString function. Under the Main function ending curly brace put this code in:

        static string ReverseString(string str)

        {

            string newstr = "";

            for (int i = 1; i < str.Length; i++)

            {

                newstr = newstr + str[str.Length - i];

            }

            newstr = newstr + str[0];

            return newstr;

        }

This is a simple algorithm I designed to reverse the string.

4. Run the program (Press Ctrl+F5) and type in a line and press enter. It will print the string back to you! Now you can use the ReverseString function anywhere, and you dont just have to use it for this purpose!

Hope this helps you reverse string :)

*Note: There are better ways to reverse the string, but this just came off the top of my head and works.

[amrosama]

good tutorial!
+rep, keep posting tutorials

[chili5]

Well done, quite useful.

Another way to reverse a string:

static string reverse(string s)
        {
            if (s.Length <= 1)
            {
                return s;
            }
            else
            {
                return reverse(s.Substring(1))+s[0];
            }
        }

[Xav]

Your Main() function is this:

static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string readline;
            readline = ReverseString(Console.ReadLine());
            Console.WriteLine(readline);
        }

Why not just do this:

Console.WriteLine(ReverseString(Console.ReadLine()));

It saves on having to create a variable to store the reversed string.

Another performance measure you have not thought of:

newstr = newstr + str[str.Length - i];

And again here:

newstr = newstr + str[0];

String concatenation is inefficient. .NET cannot concatenate strings directly - instead it must create a new string variable containing both the old values, then discards the old two variables. If you are doing this for every single character, it is going to slow performance of your program.

Use a StringBuilder instead, and call its Append() method, passing a string parameter, to concatenate text. When you are done, call ToString() to return the string value held by the StringBuilder.

[chili5]

Is my recursive method doing the same thing with the concatenation?

[Xav]

Your code:

static string reverse(string s)
        {
            if (s.Length <= 1)
            {
                return s;
            }
            else
            {
                return reverse(s.Substring(1))+s[0];
            }
        }

How about this code:

static string reverse(string s)
  {
    return s.Length <= 1 ? s : reverse(s.Substring(1))+s[0];
  }

It uses the conditional operator and hence is much more concise.