What is the proper way to split a string by regex

Question

I have a text string with a custom macro:

"Some text {MACRO(parameter1)} more text {MACRO(parameter2)}"

In order to process the macro I want to split the string like that:

expected result

"Some text "
"{MACRO(parameter1)}"
" more text "
"{MACRO(parameter2)}"

I've tried to split the string using Regex.Split()

public static string[] Split(string input)
{
    var regex = new Regex(@"{MACRO\((.*)\)}");
    var lines = regex.Split(input)
    return lines;
}

However Regex.Split() deletes the match itself and gives me the following:

actual result

"Some text "
" more text "

I know I could parse the string doing iterations of .Match() and .Substring()

But is there an easy way get the result along with the matches?

Your pattern does not work for me. It should be `@"{MACRO\([^})]*\)}"`. This will split the string correctly. Now if you also make the parameter part of the pattern (`[^})]`) a capture group (i.e. the full pattern should be `@"{MACRO\(([^})]*)\)}"`) then your function will work as expected. — Good Night Nerd Pride, Aug 30 '16 at 15:22
Try this `regex = new System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex(@"({MACRO\(.*?\)})");` — A.Pissicat, Aug 30 '16 at 15:24

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 30 '16 at 15:28

0

Try this

            string input = "Some text {MACRO(parameter1)} more text {MACRO(parameter2)}";
            string pattern = @"(?'text'[^\{]+)\{(?'macro'[^\}]+)\}";
            MatchCollection matches = Regex.Matches(input, pattern);
            foreach (Match match in matches)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("text : '{0}'; macro : '{1}'", match.Groups["text"].Value.Trim(), match.Groups["macro"].Value.Trim());
            }
            Console.ReadLine();

answered Aug 30 '16 at 15:28

jdweng

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No need to resort to `Regex.Matches()`. `Regex.Split()` does just fine when a capture group is used. – Good Night Nerd Pride Aug 30 '16 at 15:36
Good Night Nerd Pride : Xplit() returns a string[]. With my code I'm separating the text and macro into two groups so split will not work. – jdweng Aug 30 '16 at 16:03

What is the proper way to split a string by regex

expected result

actual result

1 Answers1