Regex to match string over multiple lines

Question

I'm using a regex to match strings in a source file. I have a regex:

(["'])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1

It matches the opening and closing quotes only if they are on the same line. For example,

"hello world!"

matches, but

"hello
world!"

does not.

Is it possible to modify this so that both cases are matched?

This may depend on the tool/language you are using. I believe what you need here is for the regex to be in DOTALL mode, meaning that dot also matches newline. Update with the tool you are using. — Tim Biegeleisen, Jan 15 '18 at 15:11
If the language you're using doesn't have a `DOTALL` or `s` flag, you can use `[\s\S]` instead of `.` — ctwheels, Jan 15 '18 at 15:12
As a side note, unless you've got a special case with backslashes you didn't tell us about, it looks like `(["']).*?\1` would work just as well, while being much less confusing. — Aaron, Jan 15 '18 at 15:13
[This question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5239997/regex-how-to-match-multiple-lines) would seem to have you covered. As I'm not a Ruby person, I won't attempt an answer. — Tim Biegeleisen, Jan 15 '18 at 15:13

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 15 '18 at 16:20

0

You are looking for the flag m (/regexp/m)

It's getting a little old, but http://rubular.com/ has a ruby regexp testing interface and the basic classes and modifiers remainder.

answered Jan 15 '18 at 16:20

Cyril Lemaire

1 Answers1