Complex group regex pattern in Java

Question

I have developed regex pattern to parse bibliography in scientific articles. We use AMA citation style, for journal citations it is can look like this:

"Nielsen MK, Neergaard MA, Jensen AB, Bro F, Guldin MB. Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Support Care Cancer. 2016; 24(7): 3057-3067."

or without issue number:

"Nielsen MK, Neergaard MA, Jensen AB, Bro F, Guldin MB. Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Support Care Cancer. 2016; 24: 3057-3067."

or with only first page (electronic number).

"Nielsen MK, Neergaard MA, Jensen AB, Bro F, Guldin MB. Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Support Care Cancer. 2016; 24(7): 3057."

or simply with only volume number (if ahead of print):

"Nielsen MK, Neergaard MA, Jensen AB, Bro F, Guldin MB. Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Support Care Cancer. 2016; 24."

My pattern matches all this situations and groups all the data (escape with 2 slashes because of Java):

(.*?)\\.(.*?)\\.(.*?)(?<year>\\d+)\\s*?;?\\s*?(?:(?<volume>\\d+))?(?:\\((?<issue>\\d+)\\))?\\s*?(?::\\s*?(?<fpage>\\d+|[A-Za-z]+\\d+))?(?:[\\-\\–](?<lpage>\\d+))?\\.

The problem is that authors consistently put whitespace between first and last page number. I think maybe this pattern can be changed also to match this?

"Nielsen MK, Neergaard MA, Jensen AB, Bro F, Guldin MB. Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Support Care Cancer. 2016; 24(7): 3057 - 3067."

here is an example, where can be seen that pattern matches this incorrectly.

Doesn't work replacing [\\-\\–] near the end with something like (?:\\-|\\–| \\- | \\– ) ? — rrobby86
– rrobby86, Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 13:46
Something like regex101.com/r/rUhFs0/1 .. just been playing around. — Sebastian Proske
– Sebastian Proske, Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 13:52

Thanga · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-30 14:05:00Z

1

The Proper regex is

(.*?)\.(.*?)\.(.*?)(?<year>\d+)\s*?;?\s*?(?:(?<volume>\d+))?(?:\((?<issue>\d+)\))?\s*?(?::\s*?(?<fpage>\d+|[A-Za-z]+\d+))?(?:[ ]*[\-|\–][ ]*(?<lpage>\d+))?\.

This one https://regex101.com/r/RAdNgb/2 fixes your issue. please check it.

edited Mar 30, 2017 at 14:05

answered Mar 30, 2017 at 13:59

Thanga

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3 Comments

VGR Over a year ago

An answer needs to be self-contained. If your link ever becomes stale, your answer is effectively useless. Include your solution in the answer itself.

Thanga Over a year ago

@VGR : Done buddy !!

Vitaliy Over a year ago

Yep. It works. Forgot that I can put space inside the square brackets to match the optional whitespace :)

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