Get Strings from Textbox and put in varible array - regex

Question

I have some dynamic lines of text in a TextBox
TextBox example:
Nombre : Maria
Nombre : Carlos Manuel
Nombre : Antonio
Nombre : Ana Gabriela
.
.
.
I need to get the names only into an array.
The names are to the right of the " : "
Dim myMatches As MatchCollection
Dim myPattern As New Regex(" : ")
Dim myString As String = TextBox1.Text
myMatches = myPattern.Matches(myString)
Dim successfulMatch As Match
Dim counter As Integer = 0
Dim names(counter) As String
For Each successfulMatch In myMatches
counter = counter + 1
names = TextBox1.Text.Split(" : ").Last
Next
I want to put the names into an array
names(1) = Maria
names(2) = Carlos Manuel
names(3) = Antonio
names(4) = Ana Gabriela
.
.
.

Answer 1

You just need the TextBox.Lines collection. This property return an Array of strings representing all the lines of text (sub-strings of text separated by a line feed) contained in a TextBoxBase control.
Find the last : char and, from this position, take the text to the end of the string:
Dim listOfNames = New List(Of String)
For Each line As String In TextBox1.Lines
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(line) Then
listOfNames.Add(line.Substring(line.LastIndexOf(":") + 1).TrimStart())
End If
Next
Using an array of strings, instead of a List(Of String)
Dim lines = TextBox1.Lines
Dim arrayOfNames(lines.Length - 1) As String
For i As Integer = 0 To lines.Length - 1
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(lines(i)) Then
arrayOfNames(i) = lines(i).Substring(lines(i).LastIndexOf(":") + 1).TrimStart()
End If
Next
In case you have to use a RegEx for some reason.
Using the List(Of String) seen before to store the results:
Dim regx = New Regex(":", RegexOptions.Multiline).Matches(TextBox1.Text)
For Each match As Match In regx
Dim position = TextBox1.Text.IndexOf(Environment.NewLine, match.Index)
If position = -1 Then position = TextBox1.Text.Length - 1
listOfNames.Add(TextBox1.Text.Substring(match.Index + 1, position - match.Index).Trim())
Next
One-line LINQ version (it returns the well-known List(Of String)).
Use ToArray() instead of ToList() to return an array of strings.
Neither of them to return an IEnumerable(Of String):
Dim result = TextBox1.Lines.Select(Function(line) line.Split(":"c)(1).TrimStart()).ToList()

Answer 2

Make a function which returns an IEnumerable(Of String)
Private Function getNombres(text As String) As IEnumerable(Of String)
Return text.
Split({Environment.NewLine}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries).
Select(Function(l) l.Split(":"c)(1).TrimStart())
End Function
call it
Dim nombres = getNombres(TextBox1.Text)
if you really need it in an array, you can convert it into one
Dim nombres = getNombres(TextBox1.Text).ToArray()
Note: when indexing the data, you will start with index = 0, contrary to what you asked for in your question. VB6 collections started at 1; .NET collections start at 0.