C# code to linkify urls in a string

Question

It’s a pretty simple task you can acheive it with Regex and a ready-to-go regular expression from:

http://regexlib.com/

Something like:

var html = Regex.Replace(html, @"^(http|https|ftp)\://[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+" +
                         "\.[a-zA-Z]{2,3}(:[a-zA-Z0-9]*)?/?" +
                         "([a-zA-Z0-9\-\._\?\,\'/\\\+&amp;%\$#\=~])*$",
                         "<a href=\"$1\">$1</a>");

You may also be interested not only in creating links but in shortening URLs. Here is a good article on this subject:

Resolve and shorten URLs in C#

See also:

Regular Expression Workbench at MSDN
Converting a URL into a Link in C# Using Regular Expressions
Regex to find URL within text and make them as link
Regex.Replace Method at MSDN
The Problem With URLs by Jeff Atwood
Parsing URLs with Regular Expressions and the Regex Object
Format URLs in string to HTML Links in C#
Automatically hyperlink URL and Email in ASP.NET Pages with C#

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