I can't ever get Regex Right

Question

I have a query string I'm trying to remove a query string parameter. What I currently have is

date=(.*)&

But this will remove anything to the last &. I only want to remove to the first occurance of the &.

So this is how it should work:

date=5%2F13%2F16&tab=1&a=b = tab=1&a=b

But mine is doing this:

date=5%2F13%2F16&tab=1&a=b = a=b

I think I probably need something around the & but I read the regex stuff and I just get more confused.

https://regex101.com/r/cA6cI0/1 – Wiktor Stribiżew May 11 '16 at 15:19 — Wiktor Stribiżew, May 11 '16 at 15:19

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '16 at 15:18

0

Make it lazy, use:

date=(.*?)&

answered May 11 '16 at 15:18

Thomas Ayoub

Or, make the dot match everything but `&`: `date=([^&]*)&` – Mr. Llama May 11 '16 at 15:18
I fing hate regex. Spend much longer than needed everytime. Thanks – Leeish May 11 '16 at 15:19
@Mr.Llama since I'm lazy, I prefer to type less ;) – Thomas Ayoub May 11 '16 at 15:20
Lastly, what if there is no &. What if it's the last paremeter. I think maybe Mr. Llama's will, going to test. – Leeish May 11 '16 at 15:21
2

@Leeish - If there is no final `&`, the pattern will not match. It explicitly expects a `&` at the end. You could replace it with `(?:&|$)` which will match (but not capture) either the next `&` or the end of line. – Mr. Llama May 11 '16 at 15:23
Thank you. That looks to solve it. Now I have `date=(.*?)(?:&|$)` – Leeish May 11 '16 at 15:25
Sorry wouldn't let me at the time. – Leeish May 12 '16 at 16:13

1 Answers1