Using String.Replace() with an index instead of a string for the argument?

Question

This seems like a simple problem but I'm not sure how to tackle it. I have a line of code that removes a part of a string. I simply want to change this from just removing to replacing it with something else. Is there a way I can use the string.replace with the index like I do in the following code sample?

output = output.Remove(m.Index, m.Length);

Answer 1

No, there's nothing to do this. The simplest approach would be to just use Substring and string concatenation:

public static string Replace(string text, int start, int count,
                             string replacement)
{
    return text.Substring(0, start) + replacement 
         + text.Substring(start + count);
}

Note that this ensures you definitely won't replace other sections of the string which also happen to match that text.

Answer 2

All great answers, you can also do this:

  String result = someString.Remove(m.Index, m.Length).Insert(m.Index, "New String Value");

It's not the prettiest code but it works.

It will generally be better to write this into a extension method or some sort of base functionality so you don't have to repeat yourself.