Regular Expression to retrieve password from connection string

Question

How do I write a regular expression to retrieve password from connection string.

Connection string is like this:

USER ID=system;PASSWORD = ab;DATA ..

or

USER ID=system;PASSWORD=ab;DATA ...

or

USER ID=system;PASSWORD =ab;DATA...

or

USER ID=system;PASSWORD= ab;DATA ...

Tried the approach of using ConnectionStringBuilder. Works for SQL Server. But in case of Oracle it throws this exception:

Invalid length for connection option 'Data Source', maximum length is 128.

The Oracle Connection String:

USER ID=sa;PASSWORD=abc;DATA SOURCE="(DESCRIPTION =(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.1.1)(PORT = 8080))(CONNECT_DATA =(SERVER = DEDICATED)(SERVICE_NAME = Orcl)))"

It may be easier to use the SqlConnectionStringBuilder class: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/… — Andre Calil
– Andre Calil, Commented Sep 4, 2012 at 20:48
var password = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder("USER ID=system;PASSWORD =ab;").Password; one liner :p — BlueM
– BlueM, Commented Sep 4, 2012 at 21:07

driis · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-04 20:49:02Z

9

Is there a requirement that you have to use a regular expression ? .NET has the functionality built in:

var sb = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder("USER ID=system;PASSWORD =ab;");
Console.WriteLine(sb.Password);

This is likely to be more robust than using a regular expression for that. The rules for the fields are rather comprehensive, and it is easy to make a Regex that will work for most connectionstrings, but will fail on some. See the connection string rules for a list of the rules that must be embedded in such a Regex.

answered Sep 4, 2012 at 20:49

driis

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BlueM · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-04 20:48:32Z

1

Regex:

.*PASSWORD[ ]*=[ ]*([^;]+)

answered Sep 4, 2012 at 20:48

BlueM

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6 Comments

driis Over a year ago

Semicolons are allowed in the password

BlueM Over a year ago

So where is the stop of the password then. I don't know how semicolons are escaped in your connection string.

driis Over a year ago

connectionstrings.com/Articles/Show/…

BlueM Over a year ago

Using regex when the connection string contains escaping with ' makes it nearly impossible. So don't use regex at all for it.

ctrl-alt-delor Over a year ago

is the string ;DATA ... allowed in the password? or PASSWORD= allowed as an id?

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