Zakira.Imprint.Sample - String Utilities Library

Zakira.Imprint.Sample - String Utilities

This skill teaches you how to use the Zakira.Imprint.Sample NuGet package, which provides string manipulation utilities via the StringExtensions and StringHelper classes.

Namespace

All types are in the Zakira.Imprint.Sample.WithCode namespace:

using Zakira.Imprint.Sample.WithCode;

StringExtensions (Extension Methods)

These are extension methods on string. After adding the using directive, call them directly on any string instance.

Slugify

Converts a string to a URL-friendly slug (lowercase, hyphens, no special chars).

"Hello World! This is C#".Slugify()    // => "hello-world-this-is-c"
"Café Résumé".Slugify()                // => "cafe-resume" (diacritics removed)
"  Multiple   Spaces  ".Slugify()      // => "multiple-spaces"

Truncate

Truncates to a maximum length with a configurable suffix.

"Hello World".Truncate(8)              // => "Hello..."
"Hello World".Truncate(8, "~")         // => "Hello W~"
"Hi".Truncate(10)                      // => "Hi" (no truncation needed)

Mask

Masks the middle portion of a string, keeping visible characters at start and end.

"1234567890".Mask(2, 2)                // => "12******90"
"SensitiveData".Mask(3, 3)             // => "Sen*******ata"
"1234567890".Mask(2, 2, '#')           // => "12######90"

ToTitleCase

Converts to Title Case (first letter of each word capitalized).

"hello world example".ToTitleCase()    // => "Hello World Example"
"ALL CAPS INPUT".ToTitleCase()         // => "All Caps Input"

RemoveDiacritics

Strips accent marks from characters.

"café résumé".RemoveDiacritics()       // => "cafe resume"
"naïve über".RemoveDiacritics()        // => "naive uber"

ToCamelCase

Converts to camelCase from any word-separated format.

"hello world example".ToCamelCase()    // => "helloWorldExample"
"some-kebab-case".ToCamelCase()        // => "someKebabCase"
"SOME_SCREAMING_SNAKE".ToCamelCase()   // => "someScreamingSnake"

ToSnakeCase

Converts to snake_case.

"Hello World".ToSnakeCase()            // => "hello_world"
"camelCaseExample".ToSnakeCase()       // => "camel_case_example"
"PascalCaseInput".ToSnakeCase()        // => "pascal_case_input"

Reverse

Reverses the characters in a string.

"Hello".Reverse()                      // => "olleH"
"12345".Reverse()                      // => "54321"

WordCount

Counts the number of whitespace-separated words.

"Hello world, this is a test".WordCount()  // => 6
"  ".WordCount()                           // => 0

StringHelper (Static Methods)

These are static methods. Call them via StringHelper.MethodName(...).

MaskEmail

Smart email masking that preserves the domain.

StringHelper.MaskEmail("john.doe@example.com")     // => "jo******@example.com"
StringHelper.MaskEmail("ab@test.com")               // => "ab@test.com" (too short to mask)
StringHelper.MaskEmail("admin@corp.com", 3)         // => "adm**@corp.com"

MaskCreditCard

Masks all but the last 4 digits of a credit card number, re-formatted with hyphens.

StringHelper.MaskCreditCard("4111-1111-1111-1111")  // => "****-****-****-1111"
StringHelper.MaskCreditCard("4111111111111111")      // => "****-****-****-1111"

ShortHash

Generates a deterministic short hash (MD5-based hex) for a string input.

StringHelper.ShortHash("hello world")       // => "5eb63bbb" (8 chars, default)
StringHelper.ShortHash("hello world", 12)   // => "5eb63bbbe01e" (12 chars)

Use cases: cache keys, deduplication tokens, short identifiers.

GenerateRandom

Generates a random alphanumeric string of the desired length.

StringHelper.GenerateRandom(12)              // => e.g. "aB3xK9mP2qLw"
StringHelper.GenerateRandom(6, "0123456789") // => e.g. "384729" (digits only)

IsValidEmail

Basic email format validation.

StringHelper.IsValidEmail("user@example.com")   // => true
StringHelper.IsValidEmail("not-an-email")        // => false
StringHelper.IsValidEmail("")                    // => false

GetInitials

Extracts uppercase initials from a name.

StringHelper.GetInitials("John Michael Doe")     // => "JMD"
StringHelper.GetInitials("Alice")                 // => "A"
StringHelper.GetInitials("A B C D E", 2)          // => "AB" (max 2 initials)

Common Patterns

Preparing user-generated content for URL slugs

var title = "My Blog Post: A Café Story!";
var slug = title.Slugify();  // => "my-blog-post-a-cafe-story"
var url = $"/posts/{slug}";

Displaying masked sensitive data in logs

var email = "customer@company.com";
var card = "4111-1111-1111-1111";
Console.WriteLine($"Email: {StringHelper.MaskEmail(email)}");
Console.WriteLine($"Card: {StringHelper.MaskCreditCard(card)}");

Converting between naming conventions

var input = "myPropertyName";
var snake = input.ToSnakeCase();     // => "my_property_name"
var camel = snake.ToCamelCase();     // => "myPropertyName"
var slug = input.Slugify();          // => "my-property-name" (kebab-like)

Error Handling

• All extension methods handle null and empty strings gracefully (return empty string or the input).
• Truncate throws ArgumentOutOfRangeException if maxLength < 0.
• Mask throws ArgumentOutOfRangeException if visibleStart or visibleEnd are negative.
• ShortHash throws ArgumentNullException if input is null, and ArgumentOutOfRangeException if length is out of range.

Source Package

• Package: Zakira.Imprint.Sample
• Installed Via: NuGet (provides both the DLL and these skill files)
• Skill Location: .github/skills/