How to match operator-separated strings in Sublime Package Development YAML tmlanguage

Question

I am making a syntax definition for a custom-made language in sublime text 2 using PackageDevelopment's .YAML-tmLanguage. For now I want my syntax to identify strings to non strings.

sample line of code:

string name = "Chuck Norris";
string message = "I am " + name + ", don't mess with a \"ROCKSTAR\"!";

my pattern for double quoted string:

- comment: strings in double quotes
  match: (".+")
  captures:
    '1': {name: string.quoted.double.me}

what the pattern captures:

string name = "Chuck Norris";
string message = "I am " + name + ", don't mess with a "ROCKSTAR"!";

line 1 above is correct but line 2 seems to capture all.

what I want is:

string name = "Chuck Norris";
string message = "I am " + name + ", don't mess with a "ROCKSTAR"!";

make it lazy using `.+?`..check :- https://regex101.com/r/pC5wN5/1 — rock321987, Apr 15 '16 at 12:17
@rock321987, already tried that solution.. but it doesn't work — catzilla, Apr 15 '16 at 12:18
`[^"]+` should also work(if there is no nested `"` inside the string) — rock321987, Apr 15 '16 at 12:18
@rock321987 checked the link.. Tried it also on sublime PackageDev and voila! it worked! — catzilla, Apr 15 '16 at 12:22
Wait, there is a YAML tm grammar file. It works alright as is now. http://imgur.com/U7Yot9V — Wiktor Stribiżew, Apr 15 '16 at 12:24
@catzilla: rock's suggestion won't work if you have `string mes = "I am a \"rock\" start.";` — Wiktor Stribiżew, Apr 15 '16 at 12:30
@WiktorStribiżew, you are right.. it seems that there are limitations.. I should update my question.. — catzilla, Apr 15 '16 at 12:32
What about raw string literals spanning across multiple lines? Do you handle them already (there must be a separate block for them, I believe). — Wiktor Stribiżew, Apr 15 '16 at 12:37
@WiktorStribiżew, I have not considered that yet, but it seems that it would pose a valid threat on my string matching. — catzilla, Apr 15 '16 at 12:40
Already told that it won't work for it..modification is needed for that — rock321987, Apr 15 '16 at 12:43
Well, putting raw string literals aside, try `"[^\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*"`. The problem is only when you have multiple lines since the rules only work per line only. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Apr 15 '16 at 12:48
@WiktorStribiżew, I have tried your suggestion but it seems that YAML parsing did not produce the expected result. — catzilla, Apr 15 '16 at 12:53
@WiktorStribiżew, hmmm.. didnt work yet.. I have tried it here https://regex101.com/r/pC5wN5/1 — catzilla, Apr 15 '16 at 12:56
@WiktorStribiżew, tried it and yup.. it worked perfectly.. you are also a **ROCKSTAR**! — catzilla, Apr 18 '16 at 02:44

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 18 '16 at 05:30

1

You need to match all characters that are not " and also combinations of \+anything in between the quotes.

Use

"[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*"

See this regex demo

It can also be written as "(?:[^"\\]|\\.)*". It is easier to read but is less efficient.

answered Apr 18 '16 at 05:30

Wiktor Stribiżew

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I found this answer correct and useful, however I also found a better implementation using YAML tmlanguage specifiers. – catzilla Apr 18 '16 at 06:07
1

Then you can post. Actually, within begin/end, you can use nested rules, so you can declare the quotes as begin and end patterns and then use a nesnested rule for an escaped entity. – Wiktor Stribiżew Apr 18 '16 at 06:10
yes, that is true.. what you said is exactly what I did. I used `begin` and `end`. and also used nesting.. :) – catzilla Apr 18 '16 at 06:12

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 18 '16 at 06:11

I discovered a good implementation on how to match operator-separated strings and also to match double quoted strings and some additional functionalities using YAML.

@Wiktor Stribiżewv's answer also fulfills the question but I found a good implementation for this:

- comment: strings in double quotes
  name: string.quoted.double.hit
  begin: \"
  end: \"
  patterns:
  - comment: escape characters
    name: constant.character.escape.hit
    match: \\.

  - comment: special characters
    name: constant.character.hit
    match: \%.

this also matches escape characters like \", \n and special characters %s, %d

How to match operator-separated strings in Sublime Package Development YAML tmlanguage

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