Exclude first and last quotation of string in regex result

Question

I'm running a little c# program where I need to extract the escape-quoted words from a string.

Sample code from linqpad:

string s = "action = 0;\r\ndir = \"C:\\\\folder\\\\\";\r\nresult";
var pattern = "\".*?\"";
var result = Regex.Split(s, pattern);
result.Dump();

Input (actual input contains many more escaped even-number-of quotes):

"action = 0;\r\ndir = \"C:\\\\folder\\\\\";\r\nresult"

expected result

"C:\\folder\\"

actual result (2 items)

"action = 0;
dir =  "
_____
";
result"

I get exactly the opposite of what I require. How can I make the regex ignore the starting (and ending) quote of the actual string? Why does it include them in the search? I've used the regex from similar SO questions but still don't get the intended result. I only want to filter by escape quotes.

`Regex.Split` is used to split your string into two and **remove** the matched expression. — Mateen Ulhaq, Apr 12 '16 at 03:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 12 '16 at 03:57

2

Instead of using Regex.Split, try Regex.Match.

answered Apr 12 '16 at 03:57

Mateen Ulhaq

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1

Thanks! Looks like I was after this: `var result = Regex.Matches(s, pattern);` – Serge P Apr 12 '16 at 04:09

dotNET · Answer 2 · 2016-04-12T03:55:55.337

0

You don't need RegEx. Simply use String.Split(';') and the second array element will have the path you need. You can then Trim() it to get rid of the quotes and Remove() to get rid of the ndir part. Something like:

result = s.Split(';')[1].Trim("\r ".ToCharArray()).Remove(0, 7).Trim('"');

edited Apr 12 '16 at 03:55

answered Apr 12 '16 at 03:48

dotNET

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Exclude first and last quotation of string in regex result

2 Answers2