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If I have a simple regex pattern like "ab." and I have a string that has multiple matches like "abc abd". If I do the following...

boost::match_flag_type flags = boost::match_default;
boost::cmatch mcMatch;
boost::regex_search("abc abd", mcMatch, "ab.", flags)

Then mcMatch contains just the first "abc" result. How can I get all possible matches?

Ron
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1 Answers1

30

You can use the boost::sregex_token_iterator like in this short example:

#include <boost/regex.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main() {
    std::string text("abc abd");
    boost::regex regex("ab.");

    boost::sregex_token_iterator iter(text.begin(), text.end(), regex, 0);
    boost::sregex_token_iterator end;

    for( ; iter != end; ++iter ) {
        std::cout<<*iter<<'\n';
    }

    return 0;
}

The output from this program is:

abc
abd
Jacob
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  • Thanks for the quick reply. Question, what does *iter return, it doesn't appear to be a boost::cmatch in my quick test? I just gave a very simple example. In my regex I may have groups, so I need access to the group information for each match (as is available from cmatch)? – Ron Jun 26 '10 at 02:06
  • You could try out the regex_iterator instead, it returns a match_result when dereferenced, and should give you what you're looking for? – Jacob Jun 26 '10 at 08:32