Regex for a dynamic string

Question

I have a string that can come in different forms - one example below

%VAR('SERVER','DEFAULT') %VAR('LOC','NYC')Run_ServerRestart.ps1

I want to separate them as individual items and am not able to separate out the command in the end as a match. My regex returns 2 matches for the above example while I am looking to get 3 matches. Any ideas on what I maybe doing wrong and how to separate out them as below and if there is a more efficient way to achieve this ? We need to accommodate for spaces anywhere in between as well.

%VAR('SERVER','DEFAULT')
%VAR('LOC','NYC')
Run_ServerRestart.ps1

Here is my regex so far:

/%VAR\(\s*'([^']+)'\s*\)*\,*\s*'([^']+)'\s*\)|/*\\*[\w-]+\s*\.?\S*/g

However, this above regex is not matching some of my examples below.

c:\abc\def.txt - should show 1 match
%VAR('SERVER','USA')\C:\batch.bat - should show 2 matches - %VAR('SERVER', 'USA') and \c:\batch.bat
%VAR('SERVER','NYC') - should show 1 match
%VAR('SERVER','NYC') %VAR('APP','NNJ')Run_Command.ps1 - should show 3 matches
%VAR('SERVER','NYC') %VAR('APP','NNJ') and Run_Command.ps1
%VAR('SERVER','NYC') -File - should show 2 matches - %VAR('SERVER','NYC') and -File
/usr/bin/cat - should show 1 match
%VAR('SERVER','NYC')BATCH1.bat - should show 2 matches - %VAR('SERVER','NYC') and BATCH1.bat
ftp -s:D:\\apps\\scripts\\Intel\\daily_job.ftp - should show 1 match
%VAR('SERVER') - should show 1 match

Is it always in the form where it first sets variables then is followed by a command? %VAR %VAR ... command Are spaces between the %VARs required or optional? %VAR(a,b)%VAR(x,y) — Stephen P
– Stephen P, Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 20:42
There may be a command or sometimes no command at all, just the variables like %VAR('SERVER', 'DEFAULT') — Prashanth
– Prashanth, Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 20:43
So I would define that as one or more vars, optionally followed by a command. Abstractly, that pattern is (var)+(command)? Then var and command need to be broken down to match what a var looks like, and what a command looks like. A var is literal %VAR( quoted_string comma quoted_string ) etc. This is how I break down what needs to be in a regex. — Stephen P
– Stephen P, Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 20:47
@S.Kablar, 1 match means that the entire string comes out as a group. c:\abc\def.txt - should show 1 match - when I use Patterns in java, it should come out as the entire string here without leaving out anything - c:\abc\def.txt — Prashanth
– Prashanth, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 19:38
@S.Kablar, thank you. wondering why it throws off 'ftp' though. — Prashanth
– Prashanth, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 19:59

Srdjan M. · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-26 10:54:08Z

1

Regex: %VAR\([^\)]+\)|[\S]+(?:\s[\S]+)?

Details:

[^] Match a single character not present in the list
[] Match a single character present in the list
+ Matches between one and unlimited times
* Matches between zero and unlimited times
| or
(?:) Non capturing group
? Matches between zero and one times
\S matches any non-whitespace character (equal to [^\r\n\t\f\v ])
\s matches any whitespace character (equal to [\r\n\t\f\v ])

Regex demo

edited Jan 26, 2018 at 10:54

answered Jan 18, 2018 at 20:36

Srdjan M.

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17 Comments

Prashanth Over a year ago

Pretty close. How do I make the last command include '_', '-' and any extension after a period (if there is one at all) ? Not all commands can be ps1

Prashanth Over a year ago

%VAR('LOC','NYC')%VAR('LOC','NYC')shell_cmd.sh or %VAR('LOC','NYC')%VAR('LOC','NYC') mycommand

Prashanth Over a year ago

Need to accommodate for any spaces anywhere inbetween too

Prashanth Over a year ago

Think I got it using this : /%VAR('([^']+)','([^']+)')|\S+\.?[0-9a-zA-Z]*/g

Srdjan M. Over a year ago

@Prashanth Updated! You "accommodate" for any spaces anywhere inbetween...

|

Nick Chapman · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-18 20:31:21Z

0

Assuming they always look exactly like this you can just abuse the ) as a separator

(.*\))\s(.*\))(.*)

Example with explanation here: https://regex101.com/r/CLBFKa/1

answered Jan 18, 2018 at 20:31

Nick Chapman

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2 Comments

Prashanth Over a year ago

It depends on the number of variables

Nick Chapman Over a year ago

@Prashanth Is there always a space between the variables?

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