Extracting comma-separated values using RegEx

Question

I wonder if someone could shed some light on using a RegEx to extract some values.

I have a string that looks something like this:

$Aa37.33092,-2.9084$

The string will always start and end with a dollar-sign.
The two letters after the starting dollar-sign are irrelevant but will always be there.
Two numerical values follows, separated by a comma.
Both CAN be negative, but does not have to be.
Both CAN have up to three digits before the dot and up to five digits after the dot (the actual number of digits is unknown until the string arrives)

Each value should then go into a unique variable in PowerShell for further processing, but I think I can cope with the rest. I just need some hints or pointers on how to extract these values.

^\$(\w{2})(-?\d+\.\d+),(-?\d+\.\d+)\$$ Improved version of my previous pattern. — Leri
– Leri, Commented Mar 8, 2013 at 10:37
There's a double dollar at the end which I think shouldn't be there(?) Actually \w{2} is more die-hard correct (compared to Poorkenny's version) as I mentioned there will be exactly two letters. \D* is more forgiving. Thanks! — user2147832
– user2147832, Commented Mar 8, 2013 at 13:21

mjolinor · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-08 11:16:33Z

2

And yet another possibility:

$vals = '$Aa37.33092,-2.9084$' -split '[^--9]' -match '\S'
$val1,$val2 = $vals[0,1]

answered Mar 8, 2013 at 11:16

mjolinor

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user2147832 Over a year ago

Oh how simple, once you get it printed in front of you... I'll go for this one. Thanks!

CB. · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-08 11:11:10Z

2

Something like this:

$vals = [regex]::Matches('$Aa37.33092,-2.9084$','(-?\d*\.\d*)') | 
select -expa value 
$val1 = $vals[0]
$val2 = $vals[1]

using split method:

$vals =( ('$Aa37.33092,-2.9084$').Split(',') ) -replace '\$|[a-z]'
$val1 = $vals[0]
$val2 = $vals[1]

or using select-string

 '$Aa37.33092,-2.9084$' | select-string '(-?\d*\.\d*)' -AllMatches |
   Foreach {$_.matches} | select -expa value

edited Mar 8, 2013 at 11:11

answered Mar 8, 2013 at 10:32

CB.

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1 Comment

user2147832 Over a year ago

Neat and tidy suggestions. Tested the select-string version with success. Thanks!

Poorkenny · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-08 10:47:27Z

1

As I mention in my comment above, this regex seems to work (if anyone has a simpler solution, I'm interested)

"\$\D*(-?\d*[.]\d*),(-?\d*[.]\d*)\$"

So with a bit of PowerShell around it:

$sourceString = '$Aa37.33092,-2.9084$'
if($sourceString -match "\$\D*(-?\d*[.]\d*),(-?\d*[.]\d*)\$")
{
    $firstNumber = $matches[1]
    $secondNumber = $matches[2]
    Write-Host ("Here are the numbers: {0} - {1}" -f $firstNumber,$secondNumber)
}

answered Mar 8, 2013 at 10:47

Poorkenny

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1 Comment

user2147832 Over a year ago

Nice. And wrapped in perfectly understandable PS too! This works as requested. Thanks!

ExxKA · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-08 10:25:24Z

0

You are very close. Take a look at this page for debugging regular expressions and try out something simple like: \$\D*((-?\d*[.]\d*),)\$

answered Mar 8, 2013 at 10:25

ExxKA

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2 Comments

Poorkenny Over a year ago

I love how people who write regex always say "Look, it's simple: <insert random character sequence here>" :D (Don't mistake me, I do write regex too, and I also do that...) And your regex doesn't seem to work (only attempts to match a single number). "\$\D*(-?\d*[.]\d*),(-?\d*[.]\d*)\$" is more complicated but works, don't know if there's a simpler way to write it though...

user2147832 Over a year ago

I should have mentioned that I am a complete noob at regex... I liked this one, because it's complex enough to impress anyone who will read the code.. :) But, as mentioned. It does not work as-is.

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