How do I make Regex stop the search after "Target This"?
HeaderText="Target This" AnotherAttribute="Getting Picked Up"
This is what i've tried
var match = Regex.Match(string1, @"(?<=HeaderText=\").*(?=\")");
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3 Answers
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The quantifier * is eager, which means it will consume as many characters as it can while still getting a match. You want the lazy quantifier, *?.
As an aside, rather than using look-around expressions as you have done here, you may find it in general easier to use capturing groups:
var match = Regex.Match(string1, "HeaderText=\"(.*?)\"");
^ ^ these make a capturing group
Now the match matches the whole thing, but match.Groups[1] is just the value in the quotes.
AakashM
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+1. Good idea with the group capturing. `match.Groups[0]` is the whole match, therfore the first explicit group is group 1. – Olivier Jacot-Descombes Jan 26 '12 at 17:36
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Plain regex pattern
(?<=HeaderText=").*?(?=")
or as string
string pattern = "(?<=HeaderText=\").*?(?=\")";
or using a verbatim string
string pattern = @"(?<=HeaderText="").*?(?="")";
The trick is the question mark after .*. It means "as few as possible", making it stop after the first end-quotes it encounters.
Note that verbatim strings (introduced with @) do not recognize the backslash \ as escape character. Escape the double quotes by doubling them.
Note for others interested in regex: The search pattern used finds a postion between a prefix and a suffix:
(?<=prefix)find(?=suffix)
Olivier Jacot-Descombes
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Try this:
var match = Regex.Match(string1, "HeaderText=\"([^\"]+)");
var val = match.Groups[1].Value; //Target This
UPDATE if there possibilities have double quotes in target,change the regex to:
HeaderText=\"(.+?)\"\\s+\\w
Note: it's not right way to do this, if it's a XML, check out System.XML otherwise,HtmlAgilityPack / How to use HTML Agility pack.
