regex replace span element with its contents

Question

Text:

god is a <span class="linkText0" name="name1">good</span> god my <span class="linkText1" name="name2">friend</span>

Expected (remove <span>..</span> given the name matches)

god is a good god my <span class="linkText1" name="name2">friend</span>

My Regex:

/<span[^]+name=\"name2\">([^]+)</span>/g

Results:

god is a friend

Please help to correct

Please don't use regex to parse (or manipulate) HTML. The cannot hold. Zalgo is Tony the Pony, he comes! http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags/1732454#1732454 — Anthony Accioly, Sep 25 '13 at 03:21
Your regex and your expectation doesn't match...Your expectation removes span named "name1", yet your regex looks for "name2". If you're looking for "name1": http://regexr.com?36fbk **BUT** again, you shouldn't use RegExp to manipulate HTML. — Passerby, Sep 25 '13 at 03:31
It should be `/]+name=\"name2\">([^<>]+)/g` ... **WARNING** Not Responsible For any Damages caused by using regex to parse html — Anirudha, Sep 25 '13 at 03:33
Thanks @Anirudh . I have a situation where i am forming my own dom, hence no chances of failure. Please put your comment as an answer so that I can mark it correct. — Amarsh, Sep 25 '13 at 03:48
If you are creating your own HTML, then why don't create the HTML without the offending tags? — Andy Lester, Sep 25 '13 at 03:55
What language are you using? And What is your expected result text? — hwnd, Sep 25 '13 at 03:57

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 25 '13 at 03:49

0

Use this regex

/<span[^<>]+name=\"name2\">([^<>]+)</span>/g

[^<>] would match anything except < or >

Though you should use an html parser.

answered Sep 25 '13 at 03:49

Anirudha

1 Answers1