Capture multiple lines using Regular Expression (.Net)

Question

I am trying to write a regular expression that can parse the text between < p >< /p > tags. There will be up to 3 lines of text in a row. I thought this might be possible using the (?= search ahead feature.

The code that I am currently using to get one line is as follows.

<p>([^']*?)<[/]p

Is it possible to have one regular expression that can get the text between multiple rows of tags? Each line would need to be in its own group.

An example would be

 <p>The</p>
 <p>Grey</p>
 <p>Fox</p>

Don't forget to have a look at the most voted answer ever: stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/… — R. Martinho Fernandes
– R. Martinho Fernandes, Commented Dec 18, 2009 at 5:49
Thanks for link. I have seen that and think I will be safe since this is the only thing from the html I am parsing. — Ryan
– Ryan, Commented Dec 18, 2009 at 5:55

Mark Byers · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-18 06:28:27Z

2

First, this would be easy using the Html Agility Pack and you'd get a more robust solution.

But you can do it with regex in certain situations if you're 100% in control of the format and the input is coming from a trusted source:

Match match = Regex.Match(html, @"(?:<p>(.*?)</p>\s*)+", RegexOptions.Singleline);
if (match.Success)
{
    foreach (Capture line in match.Groups[1].Captures)
        Console.WriteLine(line.Value);
}

Output:

The
Grey
Fox

edited Dec 18, 2009 at 6:28

answered Dec 18, 2009 at 5:43

Mark Byers

844k202 gold badges1.6k silver badges1.5k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Mark Byers Over a year ago

Accident. Left over from testing. (I did actually test it, honest!)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Capture multiple lines using Regular Expression (.Net)

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related