c# string that has to contain quote "

Question

string aniPattern=@"(?si:<option value=\\\"(?<year>.*?)\\)";

This breakes because the " in the middle. But I need that because I use it in a regex.

I tried to use string aniPattern="(?si:<option value=\\\"(?<year>.*?)\\\\)";(without @) but it isnot a valid regex.

Answer 1

important - it isn't entirely clear what you want to match; I've answered on the premise that only the " is being a problem - but see also Mike Caron's answer which assumes everything is escaped incorrectly.

With a verbatim string literal (i.e. @"..."), " is escaped to "" - so your string becomes:

string aniPattern=@"(?si:<option value=\\\""(?<year>.*?)\\)";

With a regular string literal (without the leading @), you would need a lot worse:

string aniPattern="(?si:<option value=\\\\\\\"(?<year>.*?)\\\\)";

Answer 2

string aniPattern=@"(?si:<option value=""(?<year>.*?)\)";

For @ escaped strings, you double the quotation mark to escape it, since backslash is not used.