String split in vb.net - arrays

Question

I'm new to Visual Basic .net and I would like some help doing this:
I'm receiving these strings:
!re=.id=*10000AF=name=Down-PBX=parent=Down=packet-mark=pack_pbx=limit-at=256000=queue=PCQ_Down=priority=1=max-limit=512000=burst-limit=0=burst-threshold=0=burst-time=00:00:00=invalid=false=disabled=true=comment=PBX
!re=.id=*10000B0=name=Up-PBX=parent=Up=packet-mark=pack_pbx=limit-at=256000=queue=PCQ_Up=priority=1=max-limit=512000=burst-limit=0=burst-threshold=0=burst-time=00:00:00=invalid=true=disabled=true=comment=PBX
!re=.id=*10000C7=name=Down_Mauro=parent=Down=packet-mark==limit-at=315000=priority=8=max-limit=5000000=burst-limit=0=burst-threshold=0=burst-time=00:00:00=invalid=false=disabled=true
(Only pasted 3 but there are many more)
And I have them in a String Array called tree().
What I want to do is a function that returns new Array, I guess a multidimensional one, that separates everything between the "=", starting from "name". Like this:
Down-PBX, Down, pack_pbx, 256000, PCQ-DOWN, etc
Up-PBX, UP, pack_pbx, 256000, etc
And so on.
Any help wil be really appreciated!! Thanks.

Answer 1

Assuming that the first value you want is always the 5th member of the array, and you wish to return every 2nd value in the array after that:
Private Function GetParts(source As String) As String()
Dim Parts As String() = source.Split(New Char() {"="C})
Dim Items As New List(Of String)()
For i As Integer = 4 To Parts.Length - 1 Step 2
Items.Add(Parts(i))
Next
Return Items.ToArray()
End Function
Essentially, you start at the 5th part of of the split string, and then iterate every 2nd element after that, adding each one to a generic list of strings. You then return this as an array of string.
I do not have a copy of VB here so it may not work 100%, but it should give you the general gist of what you are trying to achieve. I wrote it in C# and then attempted to convert it to VB.Net (fingers crossed!).

Answer 2

Quite easy:
Dim output = input.Substring(input.IndexOf("name=") + 5) _
.Split("="c) _
.Where(Function(e, i) i Mod 2 = 0) _
.ToArray()
output content:
Down-PBX
Down
pack_pbx
256000
PCQ_Down
1
512000
0
0
00:00:00
false
true
PBX
Multidimensional version:
Dim input() As String = {
"!re=.id=*10000AF=name=Down-PBX=parent=Down=packet-mark=pack_pbx=limit-at=256000=queue=PCQ_Down=priority=1=max-limit=512000=burst-limit=0=burst-threshold=0=burst-time=00:00:00=invalid=false=disabled=true=comment=PBX",
"!re=.id=*10000B0=name=Up-PBX=parent=Up=packet-mark=pack_pbx=limit-at=256000=queue=PCQ_Up=priority=1=max-limit=512000=burst-limit=0=burst-threshold=0=burst-time=00:00:00=invalid=true=disabled=true=comment=PBX",
"!re=.id=*10000C7=name=Down_Mauro=parent=Down=packet-mark==limit-at=315000=priority=8=max-limit=5000000=burst-limit=0=burst-threshold=0=burst-time=00:00:00=invalid=false=disabled=true"
}
Dim output = input.Select(Function(i) i.Substring(i.IndexOf("name=") + 5) _
.Split("="c) _
.Where(Function(e, idx) idx Mod 2 = 0) _
.ToArray()) _
.ToArray()
output is String()() here.