Regex for seperating command and parameters

Question

I am trying to find a regex that can match my desired format of a command. I am not very familiar with Regex, but after playing around with it, I have got some progress even though it still does not satisfy my need.

My desired command format would be: parameter flagged by - and value(s) of each parameter would be either single value or multi-value enclosed by {}. Example:

-name Test -types {One,Two,Three}

What I have now is this regex: [\-][a-zA-Z0-9]*\s[a-zA-Z0-9]* which would only satisfy, in my case, a command with single value for each parameter. For example

-name Test -type One

I have tried the regex [\-][a-zA-Z0-9]*\s([a-zA-Z0-9]*|{[a-zA-Z0-9,]*}) which kind of makes sense for me. However, in reality it doesn't work. It still only matches single-value format or only the parameter part that has a multivalue.

Not sure if someone can help me to provide me an appropriate regex for my command? I am not sure why the one I have is not working.

What programming language are you using?

Nick
– Nick

2022-09-25 03:18:42 +00:00
Commented Sep 25, 2022 at 3:18 — Nick
– Nick, Commented Sep 25, 2022 at 3:18

creaple · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-25 03:22:26Z

3

Reverse the order of contents in the brackets, which is: ({[a-zA-Z0-9,]*}|[a-zA-Z0-9]*).

Because [a-zA-Z0-9]* can match an empty string, the regular expression will match it with a higher priority instead of trying to search for a curly bracket {.

answered Sep 25, 2022 at 3:22

creaple

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Bohemian · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-26 00:58:37Z

2

Match the different param formats using an alternation, matching the list type first:

-([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\s*(\{[a-zA-Z0-9]+(?:,[a-zA-Z0-9]+)*\}|[a-zA-Z0-9]*)

See live demo.

Group 1 of each match is the option and group 2 is the parameter (if any - this regex allows for parameterless options).

If your language/tool supports \w (ie "word characters"), you can significantly improve readability by replacing every occurrence of [a-zA-Z0-9] with \w. Note that \w also matches the underscore character, but I think your pattern should too.

edited Sep 26, 2022 at 0:58

answered Sep 25, 2022 at 5:03

Bohemian♦

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