Regex multiple matches in array

Question

I have this problem with Regex in C#, where I can't return multiple matches in one array. I've tried using a loop to do it, but I feel there has to be a better way. In PHP, I usually just have to do:

<?php

 $text = "www.test.com/?site=www.test2.com";
 preg_match_all("#www.(.*?).com#", $text, $results);

 print_r($results);

 ?>

Which will return:

 Array
 (
    [0] => Array
         (
             [0] => www.test.com
             [1] => www.test2.com
         )

     [1] => Array
         (
             [0] => test
             [1] => test2
         )

 )

However, for some reason, my C# code only finds the first result (test). Here is my code:

 string regex = "www.test.com/?site=www.test2.com";
 Match match = Regex.Match(regex, @"www.(.*?).com");

 MessageBox.Show(match.Groups[0].Value);

Selman Genç · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-15 20:45:37Z

4

You need to use Regex.Matches instead of Match which returns a MatchCollection, if you want to find all Matches.

For example:

string regex = "www.test.com/?site=www.test2.com";
var matches = Regex.Matches(regex, @"www.(.*?).com");
foreach (var match in matches)
{
    Console.WriteLine(match);
}

Will produce this output:

// www.test.com
// www.test2.com

If you want to store all matches into an Array you can use LINQ:

var matches =  matches.OfType<Match>()
              .Select(x => x.Value)
              .ToArray();

To grab your values (test and test2) you need Regex.Split:

var values =  matches.SelectMany(x => Regex.Split(x, @"www.(.*?).com"))
             .Where(x => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x))
             .ToArray();

Then values will contain test and test2

edited Feb 15, 2016 at 20:45

answered Feb 25, 2014 at 22:37

Selman Genç

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4 Comments

user2879373 Over a year ago

Thank you, but how can I access each of these matches separately? Also, how can I grab just "test" and "test2", like I did with match?

Selman Genç Over a year ago

@user2879373 I have updated my answer.But I think test itself doesn't match with your pattern.does it?

user2879373 Over a year ago

It should be grabbing test from www.test.com and test2 from www.test2.com.

Selman Genç Over a year ago

@user2879373 I understand, you need Regex.Split for that see my update again

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