regex not matching correctly

Question

First of all, I would like an opinion if using regex is even the best solution here, I'm fairly new to this area and regex is the first thing I found and it seemed somewhat easy to use, until I need to grab a long section of text out of a line lol. I'm using a vb.net environment for regex.

Basically, I'm taking this line here:

21:24:55 "READ/WRITE: ['PASS',false,'27880739',[40,[459.313,2434.11,0.00221252]],[["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"]],["DZ_Backpack_EP1",[["BAF_AS50_TWS"],[1]],[["FoodSteakCooked","ItemPainkiller","ItemMorphine","ItemSodaCoke","5Rnd_127x99_as50","ItemBloodbag"],[2,1,1,2,4,1]]],[316,517,517],Sniper1_DZ,0.94]"

Using the following regex:

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

To try and get the following:

[["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"]]

However either my regex is flawed, or my vb.net code is. It only displays the following data:

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

My vb.net code in case you need to peek at it is:

ListView1.Clear()
    Call initList(Me.ListView1)
    My.Computer.FileSystem.CurrentDirectory = My.Settings.cfgPath
    My.Computer.FileSystem.CopyFile("arma2oaserver.RPT", "tempRPT.txt")
    Dim ScriptLine As String = ""
    Dim path As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.CurrentDirectory & "\tempRPT.txt"
    Dim lines As String() = IO.File.ReadAllLines(path, System.Text.Encoding.Default)
    Dim que = New Queue(Of String)(lines)
    ProgressBar1.Maximum = lines.Count + 1
    ProgressBar1.Value = 0
    Do While que.Count > 0
        ScriptLine = que.Dequeue()
        ScriptLine = LCase(ScriptLine)
        If InStr(ScriptLine, "login attempt:") Then
            Dim rtime As Match = Regex.Match(ScriptLine, ("(\d{1,2}:\d{2}:\d{2})"))
            Dim nam As Match = Regex.Match(ScriptLine, "\""([^)]*)\""")
            Dim name As String = nam.ToString.Replace("""", "")
            Dim next_line As String = que.Peek      'Read next line temporarily                'This is where it would move to next line temporarily to read from it
            next_line = LCase(next_line)
            If InStr(next_line, "read/write:") > 0 Then 'Or InStr(next_line, "update: [b") > 0 Then 'And InStr(next_line, "setmarkerposlocal.sqf") < 1 Then
                Dim coords As Match = Regex.Match(next_line, "\[(\d+)\,\[(-?\d+)\.\d+\,(-?\d+)\.\d+,([\d|.|-]+)\]\]")
                Dim inv As Match = Regex.Match(next_line, "\[\[([\w|_|\""|,]*)\],\[([\w|_|\""|,|\[|\]]*)\]\],") '\[\[([\w|_|\""|,]*)\],\[([\w|_|\""|,|\[|\]]*)\]\],
                '\[\[([\w|_|\""|,]*)\],\[([\w|_|\""|,|\[|\]]*)\]\]:\[([\w|_|\""|,|\[|\]]*)\]\:
                Dim back As Match = Regex.Match(next_line, "\""([\w|_]+)\"",\[\[([\w|_|\""|,]*)\],\[([\d|,]*)\]\],\[\[([\w|_|\""|,]*)\],\[([\d|,]*)\]\]")
                Dim held As Match = Regex.Match(next_line, "\[\""([\w|_|\""|,]+)\""\,\d+\]")
                With Me.ListView1
                    .Items.Add(name.ToString)
                    With .Items(.Items.Count - 1).SubItems
                        .Add(rtime.ToString)
                        .Add(coords.ToString)
                        .Add(inv.ToString)
                        .Add(back.ToString)
                        .Add(held.ToString)
                    End With
                End With
            End If
        End If
        ProgressBar1.Value += 1
    Loop
    My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile("tempRPT.txt")
    ProgressBar1.Value = 0

The odd thing is, when I test my regex in Expresso it gets the full, correct match. So I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

1

I'm not sure what's wrong with the regex you have, but the first match off of this one seems to work fine:

\[\[.*?\]\]

Hope this helps.

-EDIT-

The problem isn't the regex, it's that ListView is truncating the display of the string. See here

edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

Community

1
1

answered Aug 20 '12 at 20:09

Nathan Andrew Mullenax

814
8
13

It doesn't seem to work for me. It ends at "ItemSodaPepsi", just like mine does. – Brent Hacker Aug 20 '12 at 20:13
Does regex have a char limit? – Brent Hacker Aug 20 '12 at 20:14
@BrentHacker: No, it does not have a char limit. Also, to clarify, your expression matches fine. It's just that you're saving the first part in the first backref and the other part in the second. It is however a very poorly written expression. – Firas Dib Aug 20 '12 at 20:19
Just a thought: could it be that the ListView just isn't showing the rest of the string? – Nathan Andrew Mullenax Aug 20 '12 at 20:21
Yep--[check this out](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5559704/net-listview-max-number-of-characters-or-maximum-column-width-possible-to-ov). There's a 259-character limit. – Nathan Andrew Mullenax Aug 20 '12 at 20:27

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 20 '12 at 20:23

0

Try this regular expression instead: \Q[[\E(?:(?!\Q[[\E).)+]]

http://regex101.com/r/zP1aC5

If you need a backref, use \Q[[\E((?:(?!\Q[[\E).)+)]]

answered Aug 20 '12 at 20:23

Firas Dib

2,743
19
38

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 20 '12 at 20:27

Perhaps you should specify whether you are working with single line or multi line input text. Depending on your input text format, try with:

Dim variableName as Match = Regex.Match("input", "pattern", RegexOptions.SingleLine);

or

Dim variableName as Match = Regex.Match("input", "pattern", RegexOptions.Multiline);

regex not matching correctly

3 Answers3