[HELP] Regex ... regular expression really is my nemisis!

carlx

Registered Member

Dec 28, 2008

95

88

• Mar 24, 2012

• #1

I have always hated regex and i just cant seem to get a working expression to grab the information i want! Help would be greatly appreciated!

The HTML code i am trying to grab:

Code:

                    <p>Ending:
                        25 Mar 12
                    </p>

I want to grab the date "25 Mar 12" and not have any whitespace with it. ... multiline regex just doesnt seem to like me at all and i have been playing with it for an hour now!

If you can help me out, that would be awesome! ... also anybody have a "idiots guide to regex" that they could direct me to, i need to learn it.... but i hate it so much!

 

Last edited: Mar 25, 2012

Z

*zap*

Regular Member

Apr 7, 2008

349

99

• Mar 24, 2012

• #2

(?<=Ending\:\r)\d{2}\s.*\s\d{2}(?=\r\<\/p\>)


maybe?

 

carlx

Registered Member

Dec 28, 2008

95

88

• Mar 24, 2012
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #3

Nope, that isn't grabbing anything

 

Z

*zap*

Regular Member

Apr 7, 2008

349

99

• Mar 24, 2012

• #4

works with .net i don't know enough about other languages and regex sorry

 

carlx

Registered Member

Dec 28, 2008

95

88

• Mar 24, 2012
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #5

I'm working in .Net and its not returning anything! ... i've had enough of this bloody regex!

 

Z

*zap*

Regular Member

Apr 7, 2008

349

99

• Mar 24, 2012

• #6

Then try

(?<=Ending\:\r)\d{2}\s.*\s\d{2}\r(?=\<\/p\>)

You can test them at

Code:

http://gskinner.com/RegExr/

 

jazzc

Elite Member

Jan 27, 2009

2,964

14,717

• Mar 24, 2012

• #7

Code:

Dim ResultString As String
Try
	ResultString = Regex.Match(SubjectString, "<p>Ending:\r\n(.*+)\r\n</p>", RegexOptions.Multiline).Groups(1).Value
Catch ex As ArgumentException
	'Syntax error in the regular expression
End Try

Code:

string ResultString = null;
try {
	ResultString = Regex.Match(SubjectString, "<p>Ending:\\r\\n(.*+)\\r\\n</p>",
		RegexOptions.Multiline).Groups[1].Value;
} catch (ArgumentException ex) {
	// Syntax error in the regular expression
}

Without dot matching new line.

 

Nitros

Power Member

Jan 30, 2009

592

302

• Mar 24, 2012

• #8

try this: jslab.dk/tools.regex.php

 

andee

Regular Member

Jul 24, 2010

217

83

• Mar 25, 2012

• #9

I had this problem, its the new line character replace it with ""

or use the getstringinbetween function thats floating around, I remember someone already posted it in the vb section , or ive got an example one if you need it.

 

carlx

Registered Member

Dec 28, 2008

95

88

• Mar 25, 2012
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #10

I do appologise, it was my mistake!

The code pasted in the origional post has no white spaces, the actualy code can be found here:

HTML:

http://www.competitions-time.co.uk/Computers-Comps/Win-Dell-XPS-15Z-Laptop-3540

- see the source code's formatting (i don't want to paste it again and make another mistake)

 

carlx

Registered Member

Dec 28, 2008

95

88

• Mar 25, 2012
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #11

Still cant get this to work! going to sleep or im going to shoot somebody!

 

andee

Regular Member

Jul 24, 2010

217

83

• Mar 25, 2012

• #12

dude if this particular regex is to much , do what i suggested it will work

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...-vb-net-getting-string-between-2-strings.html

 

BlackSEOWizard

Regular Member

Apr 2, 2010

314

452

• Mar 25, 2012

• #13

Give this a try, should solve your problem.

Code:

(\d{2}\s\w{3}\s\d{2})(</p>)

You want to grab $1

 

BlackSEOWizard

Regular Member

Apr 2, 2010

314

452

• Mar 25, 2012

• #14

As for learning RegEX, I would recommend the O'Reilly book and getting RegEX Buddy. Both are invaluable, but still most people are never very good at RegEX that attempt to learn it.

 

carlx

Registered Member

Dec 28, 2008

95

88

• Mar 25, 2012
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #15

Thank you, i certainly need to learn it because it is crucial for a lot of things i do, until now i've always managed to get it working, but yours did the trick, perfect first time!

+Rep & Thanks given.

 

jazzc

Elite Member

Jan 27, 2009

2,964

14,717

• Mar 25, 2012

• #16

VB

Code:

Dim ResultString As String
Try
	ResultString = Regex.Match(SubjectString, "<p>\s*Ending:\s*(.*)\s+</p>").Groups(1).Value
Catch ex As ArgumentException
	'Syntax error in the regular expression
End Try

C#

Code:

string ResultString = null;
try {
	ResultString = Regex.Match(SubjectString, "<p>\\s*Ending:\\s*(.*)\\s+</p>").Groups[1].Value;
} catch (ArgumentException ex) {
	// Syntax error in the regular expression
}

 

hatemachine

Regular Member

Jan 14, 2011

277

1,156

• Mar 25, 2012

• #17

That's why you simply use HtmlAgilityPack.

http://htmlagilitypack.codeplex.com/

Regex is not meant to use to parse HTML.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags