Long regex, need some help

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August 20th, 2012, 01:51 PM

peperonikiller

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Long regex, need some help

Hello everyone, I'm trying to pull the following out of a longer line of text and I'm having some troubles finishing.

I'm trying to get my regex to grab this whole chunk here:

Code:

[["ItemFlashlight","ItemWatch","ItemMap","ItemKnife","ItemEtool","ItemGPS","ItemHatchet","ItemCompass","ItemMatchbox","M9SD","ItemFlashlightRed","NVGoggles","Binocular_Vector","ItemToolbox","M4A1_AIM_SD_camo"],["ItemPainkiller","ItemMorphine","ItemSodaPepsi","FoodSteakCooked",["30Rnd_556x45_StanagSD",29],"30Rnd_556x45_StanagSD","30Rnd_556x45_StanagSD","30Rnd_556x45_StanagSD","30Rnd_556x45_StanagSD","30Rnd_556x45_StanagSD",["15Rnd_9x19_M9SD",12],["15Rnd_9x19_M9SD",10],"15Rnd_9x19_M9SD","15Rnd_9x19_M9SD","ItemBandage"]]

By using the following regex:

Code:

\[\[([\w|_|\""|,]*)\],\[([\w|_|\""|,|\[|\]]*)\]\],

But it only matches up to:

Code:

[["ItemFlashlight","ItemWatch","ItemMap","ItemKnife","ItemEtool","ItemGPS","ItemHatchet","ItemCompass","ItemMatchbox","M9SD","ItemFlashlightRed","NVGoggles","Binocular_Vector","ItemToolbox","M4A1_AIM_SD_camo"],["ItemPainkiller","ItemMorphine","ItemSodaPepsi",

Could anyone tell me what I seem to be missing, I know it has to do when it gets to the items wrapped in '[' style brackets but it's stumping me :/

August 20th, 2012, 02:08 PM

Jacques1

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Hi,

A regex makes absolutely no sense in this case. This looks like a specific data format (JSON?), so you should use a proper parser. Or maybe you can do a simple text search?

Regular expressions are not the solution to every problem. Patterns like this with nested expressions are extremely difficult to describe with regexes -- or even not at all.

So it's very important to choose the right tool. Regular expressions are only appropriate for simple patterns like a date that can be described as a sequence of characters.

// I see that I've made the exact suggestion in your last thread. So you're really in love with regexes.

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Last edited by Jacques1 : August 20th, 2012 at 02:11 PM.

August 20th, 2012, 02:14 PM

peperonikiller

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacques1

lol no, I'm just new to this area, and I'm using a vb.net environment.

Since you suggest a different method, are there any tutorials you can link me to or possibly a practical example.

August 20th, 2012, 02:45 PM

Jacques1

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I can't give you practical examples without even knowing where this comes from.

If it's actually JSON, just look for a JSON parser for VB.net. If it's a different format, look for a parser for this format.

Long regex, need some help

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