Match + operator in string except when it is in quotes?

Asked Sep 28 '18 at 12:24

Active Sep 28 '18 at 12:24

Viewed 38 times

I want to match + except when it is between double quotes. Meaning i want "anystring"+ to give me true result but "\D+","anystring" to return me false.

Right now i am using /\".\s\"\s*+/|/+\s*\".\s\"/ regex but it is not giving me correct result. Regex needed to used in groovy language.

Any help would be appreciated.

asked Sep 28 '18 at 12:24

pradyumn

1

The problem with this kind of match is that you could have inputs like `"anystring"+"anystring"`. Would you consider the `+` to be between quotes or not? Probably not, but it's almost impossible for a regex pattern to make that assessment. – 41686d6564 stands w. Palestine Sep 28 '18 at 12:34
So you are saying there is no way to do that in regex? – pradyumn Sep 28 '18 at 12:35
Try this regex: \+\s*(?=([^"]*"[^"]*")*[^"]*$) – hiren Sep 28 '18 at 12:36
2

@pradyumn Yes, I don't think there's a foolproof way. Maybe someone else could come up with a regex but it would be very complicated. I would say regex isn't the right tool for this. – 41686d6564 stands w. Palestine Sep 28 '18 at 12:37

Match + operator in string except when it is in quotes?

0 Answers0