How to collapse Environmental variables in a path using C# ?

Pass the path if there are environmental variables exist in the path then it will be collapsed into a valid path and return the valid path.
Constants :-
public const string PATH_SEPARATOR = @"\";
public const string ENVIROMENT_VARIABLE_FORMAT = "%{0}%";

public static string CollapseEnviromentVariables(string pathString)
{
string result = pathString;

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(pathString) == false)
{
IDictionary environmentVariables = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariables();
Dictionary matchingEnv = new Dictionary();
bool isReplaceEnv = false;

foreach (DictionaryEntry environmentVariable in environmentVariables)
{
if ((pathString.Length >= ((string)environmentVariable.Value).Length) && (pathString.Contains((string)environmentVariable.Value)))
{
isReplaceEnv = false;

foreach (string matchingEnvEntry in matchingEnv.Keys)
{
if ((((string)matchingEnv[matchingEnvEntry]).Length <= ((string)environmentVariable.Value).Length) &&
((string)environmentVariable.Value).Contains((string)matchingEnv[matchingEnvEntry]))
{
matchingEnv.Remove(matchingEnvEntry);
matchingEnv.Add((string)environmentVariable.Key, (string)environmentVariable.Value);
isReplaceEnv = true;
break;
}
}

if (isReplaceEnv == false)
{
matchingEnv.Add((string)environmentVariable.Key, (string)environmentVariable.Value);
}
}
}

int matchingEnvIndex = 0;
int matchingEnvLength = 0;

foreach (string matchingEnvEntry in matchingEnv.Keys)
{
matchingEnvIndex = result.IndexOf(matchingEnv[matchingEnvEntry]);
matchingEnvLength = matchingEnv[matchingEnvEntry].Length;

//Replace environment variable only if environment variable value is enclosed by path seperators
//and matched value is found after replacing other variables.
if ((matchingEnvIndex > -1) &&
((matchingEnvIndex == 0) || (result[matchingEnvIndex - 1].ToString() == Constants.PATH_SEPARATOR)) &&
((matchingEnvIndex + matchingEnvLength == result.Length) || (result[matchingEnvIndex + matchingEnvLength].ToString() == Constants.PATH_SEPARATOR)))
{
result = result.Replace(matchingEnv[matchingEnvEntry], string.Format(Constants.ENVIROMENT_VARIABLE_FORMAT, matchingEnvEntry));
}
}
}
return result;
}

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How to allign multiple strings using seperator in C# ?

Constant file.public const char SYMBOL_SPACE_CHARACTER = ' ';

public static List AlignText(string[] strings, char seperator)
{
List formattedStringList = new List();
List ListOfCommaSeperatedStringsInLine = new List();
string[] commaSeperatedStringsArray = null;
List maxColumnWidthArray = new List();

//split strings into list of comma seperated array of strings and calculate maximum length of string array.
foreach (string str in strings)
{
commaSeperatedStringsArray = str.Split(seperator);

//remove all trailing and leading spaces.
for (int index = 0; index < commaSeperatedStringsArray.Length; ++index)
{
commaSeperatedStringsArray[index] = commaSeperatedStringsArray[index].Trim();

//initialize maximum characters in each column.
if (maxColumnWidthArray.Count > index)
{
maxColumnWidthArray[index] = (maxColumnWidthArray[index] < commaSeperatedStringsArray[index].Length) ? commaSeperatedStringsArray[index].Length : maxColumnWidthArray[index];
}
else
{
maxColumnWidthArray.Add(commaSeperatedStringsArray[index].Length);
}
}

ListOfCommaSeperatedStringsInLine.Add(commaSeperatedStringsArray);
}

StringBuilder formattedString = new StringBuilder();
int accumlativeMaxLength = 0;
int pad = 0;

//Insert spaces to align text and append in single line text.
foreach (string[] stringsInLine in ListOfCommaSeperatedStringsInLine)
{
formattedString.Append(stringsInLine[0]);
accumlativeMaxLength = maxColumnWidthArray[0];

for (int index = 1; index < maxColumnWidthArray.Count; ++index)
{
if (stringsInLine.Length > index)
{
pad = accumlativeMaxLength - formattedString.Length;
formattedString.Append(seperator);
formattedString.Append(Constants.SYMBOL_SPACE_CHARACTER, pad);

if (IsNumeric(stringsInLine[index]))
{
formattedString.Append(Constants.SYMBOL_SPACE_CHARACTER, maxColumnWidthArray[index] - stringsInLine[index].Length);
}

formattedString.Append(stringsInLine[index]);
accumlativeMaxLength += maxColumnWidthArray[index] + 1;
}
}

formattedStringList.Add(formattedString.ToString());
formattedString.Length = 0;
}

return formattedStringList;
}
This is very useful method when you have to align certain strings and there is a seperator then this method will allign all the lines, just pass the array of strings and a seperator.

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How to check invalid characters in path using C#

If you create a new folder then there are some characters which are not allowed and any thing in which user have rights to create path then firstly check the invalid characters otherwise your application or program will through an exception.

Pass the path or string for which you have to check.
public static bool CheckInvalidCharacters(string path)
{
bool invalidCharacters = false;

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path) == false)
{
char[] invalidChars = Path.GetInvalidFileNameChars();

foreach (char invalidChar in invalidChars)
{
if (path.Contains(invalidChar.ToString()))
{
invalidCharacters = true;
break;
}
}
}
return invalidCharacters;
}
This will return a bool variable if path or string contains invalid characters then it will return true else false.

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