[RESOLVED] Regex help!

[ChloeJacobs]

Hi Every1,

I am using the below regular expression to grab the Article title out of this html source:

<p class=NoSpacing><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>&lt;b&gt;ARTICLE
TITLE: &lt;/b&gt; This is a Test title<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=NoSpacing><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>&lt;b&gt;SELLING:
&lt;/b&gt; Market Leading Products<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=NoSpacing><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>&lt;b&gt;SELLING
TO: &lt;/b&gt; High Profile Clients<o:p></o:p></span></p>

Regular Expression:

(?<=TITLE: &lt;/b&gt;).+(?=<o:p></o:p></span></p>)

The problem i have is when it grabs the information it is not stopping when it reaches <o></o></span></p>, insted it is capturing everything until the last instance of <o></o></span></p>.

How do i rectify this?

Kind regards,
Chloe ~X~

[dec_obrien]

Check out somewhere like www.regexlib.com (also /cheatsheet.aspx)
There is a handy tester there and there are also a fair few examples.

I'm far from an expert in Regex but I think you should be looking for the text pattern you want rather than finding the start and end of the pattern. This is what I use to pick out repeating strings from other text

Dim rx as New Regex("pattern")
For Each m As Match In rx.Matches("the text to check")
    DoSomething = m.Value
Next

[.paul.]

try this:

Dim rx As New Regex("(?<=TITLE: &lt;/b&gt; ).+?(?=<o:p></o:p></span></p>)")
MsgBox(rx.Match(testStr).Value)

heres a regex tutorial + a regex reference site

[CoBHC]

try this:

Dim rx As New Regex("(?<=TITLE: &lt;/b&gt; ).+?(?=<o:p></o:p></span></p>)")
MsgBox(rx.Match(testStr).Value)

heres a regex tutorial + a regex reference site

Hey, Paul, I got that to work, and I've been trying to figure out RegEx for some time, do you think you could kinda explain how each part works? I want to know how to match something in between two things. I can't figure it out. Please help.

[.paul.]

(?<=pattern) = find before specified string (next part)
.+ = at least 1 char (any char = .) (at least 1 char = +)
? = specifies find smallest possible string that matches
(?=pattern) = find after specified string (middle part)

[stanav]

Download the free Expresso regex tool and play with it.
http://www.ultrapico.com/Expresso.htm

[CoBHC]

Download the free Expresso regex tool and play with it.
http://www.ultrapico.com/Expresso.htm

I decided to make one of my own really quick, so if the match I want to find is
"bunny" in "The purple bunny went hopping through the forest" what would my regular expression be?

Edit: also, I want to pretend I don't know the word is bunny.

[.paul.]

Dim rx As New Regex("(?<=The purple ).+?(?= went hopping through the forest)")

[CoBHC]

Dim rx As New Regex("(?<=The purple ).+?(?= went hopping through the forest)")

Thanks, that helps a lot.
The only thing I need to know now is how to put all matches in a listbox. Can you tell me how to do that?

[.paul.]

Dim rx as New Regex("pattern")
For Each m As Match In rx.Matches("the text to check")
    listbox1.items.add(m.Value)
Next

[CoBHC]

Dim rx as New Regex("pattern")
For Each m As Match In rx.Matches("the text to check")
    listbox1.items.add(m.Value)
Next

Thanks for helping me with RegEx .paul.
rep+