Multiple pattern matching using RegEx

Question

I'm trying to use RegEx to split a string into several objects. Each record is separated by a :, and each field is separated by a ~.

So sample data would look like:

:1~Name1:2~Name2:3~Name3

The RegEx I have so far is

:(?<id>\d+)~(?<name>.+)

This however will only match the first record, when really I would expect 3. How do I get the RegEx to return all matches rather than just the first?

mathematical.coffee · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-31 06:40:32Z

3

Your last .+ is greedy, so it gobbles up the Name1 as well as the rest of the string.

Try

:(?<id>\d+)~(?<name>[^:]+)

This means that the Name can't have a : in it (which is probably OK for your data), and makes sure the name doesn't grab into the next field.

(And also use the Regex.Matches method which grabs all matches, not just the first).

answered Jan 31, 2012 at 6:40

mathematical.coffee

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Comments

Kirill Polishchuk · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-31 06:40:44Z

1

Use:

var result = Regex.Matches(input, @":(?<id>\d+)~(?<name>[^:]+)").Cast<Match>()
    .Select(m => new 
    { 
        Id = m.Groups["id"].Value, 
        Name = m.Groups["name"].Value 
    });

answered Jan 31, 2012 at 6:40

Kirill Polishchuk

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Comments

shift66 · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-31 06:41:43Z

1

you better use .split() method for strings.

String[] records = myString.split(':');
for(String rec : records)
{
    String[] fields = rec.split('~');
    //use fields
}

answered Jan 31, 2012 at 6:41

shift66

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