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I'm trying to create a regex which will capture whole array of any objects inside it.

I've got example input string:

[2020-05-29T10:00:00, 12.5, 'Test text'][][[], ['Some Data']][['String with[ \'escaped quote][ and parenthesis inside it']]

Expected matches are:

Match 1: [2020-05-29T10:00:00, 12.5, 'Test text']
Match 2: []
Match 3: [[], ['Some Data']]
Match 4: [['String with[ \'escaped quote][ and parenthesis inside it']] // If this one is possible it's brilliant

Regex which I've already created is: \[[a-zA-Z0-9\-,' :\.\[]*\], but it doesn't handle array of arrays and parenthesis inside strings.

I would be really grateful for you help!

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  • There can be no [[], []] match here. Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 8:33
  • If you use PCRE, something that could work is \[\s*(?>((?:'[^\\']*(?:\\[\s\S][^\\']*)*'|[^]'\s,])+)(?:\s*,\s*\g<1>)*|(?R))*\s*], but it might not work in all cases. \[\s*(?>(\w+(?:\.\w+)*(?:\[\w+])*|(?:'[^\\']*(?:\\[\s\S][^\\']*)*'|[^]\w])+)(?:\s*,\s*\g<1>)*|(?R))*\s*] might... But this is all too fragile, you need to get the appropriate parser. Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 9:19
  • I have something that will match your 4 matches, but I really need to know the engine before I can post it. It would be helpful if you could add a language tag, as the regex tag asks "this tag should also include a tag specifying the applicable programming language or tool". Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 9:45
  • 1
    @Scratte Added a platform, it's .net C# Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 9:57
  • You cannot parse these with a regex, for the reasons explained in detail (for the equivalent problem of parsing HTML with regex) in this answer: stackoverflow.com/a/1732454 Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 10:19

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This is similar to the question Regex nested parentheses - you should look at the accepted answer for a great explanation of what's going on.

The regex you want is, I believe:

\[(?>'(?:[^'\\]|\\.)*'|\[(?<DEPTH>)|\](?<-DEPTH>)|'(?:[^'\\]|\\.)*'|[^\[\]]+)*\](?(DEPTH)(?!))
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8 Comments

Why did you decide it is a .NET related question? Also, it won't work for the case where [ and ] are not paired inside a '...' string literal. Just checking for the order and amount of open/close brackets in the DEPTH group stack is not a solution here.
Fair point on the issue with [ and ] inside a string Wiktor. I tested against the provided example (which does work). .Net - it's what I'm familiar with. The question doesn't express a specific platform - should have cast my net wider! I'll update the "answer" to point out the very fair issues you've raised. :-)
@Brett Sorry for missing a platform in tags. It is exactly .net (C#). This regex is almost perfect, it matches it very well, but this mismatches: [['String with[ ][ parenthesis inside it']] First parenthesis is ignored in this case. Almost there
I think then that we need to consume anything within single quotes (a string) before considering the [ and ] for the DEPTH. I have tested the following which appears to work, assuming that a single quote within a string is escaped by being repeated (e.g. 'a string''s length'). Here you go: \[(?>'.*?'|\[(?<DEPTH>)|\](?<-DEPTH>)|'.*?'|[^\[\]]+)*\](?(DEPTH)(?!))
@Brett Brilliant. I've tried to make it work by escaping ' inside string by using \', it's more .net natural. Is it possible to include this last one adjustment?
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