c# - Reverse a string with accent chars?

Question

So I saw Jon's skeet video and there was a code sample :

There should have been a problem with the é - after reversing but I guess it fails on .net2 (IMHO), anyway it did work for me and I did see the correct reversed string.

char[] a="Les Misérables".ToCharArray();
Array.Reverse(a);
string n= new string(a);
Console.WriteLine (n); //selbarésiM seL

But I took it further:

In Hebrew there is the "Alef" char : ?

and I can add punctuation like : ?? ( which I believe consists of 2 chars - yet displayed as one.)

But now look what happens :

char[] a="Les Mis??rables".ToCharArray();
Array.Reverse(a);
string n= new string(a);
Console.WriteLine (n); //selbar??siM seL

There was a split...

I can understand why it is happening :

Console.WriteLine ("??".Length); //2

So I was wondering if there's a workaround for this kind of issue in C# ( or should I build my own mechanism....)

Answer 1

The problem is that Array.Reverse isn't aware that certain sequences of char values may combine to form a single character, or "grapheme", and thus shouldn't be reversed. You have to use something that understands Unicode combining character sequences, like TextElementEnumerator:

// using System.Globalization;

TextElementEnumerator enumerator =
    StringInfo.GetTextElementEnumerator("Les Mis??rables");

List<string> elements = new List<string>();
while (enumerator.MoveNext())
    elements.Add(enumerator.GetTextElement());

elements.Reverse();
string reversed = string.Concat(elements);  // selbar??siM seL