Regex to replace spaces in quoted strings with _ (Sublime)

Question

I am trying to modify keys in my JSON file (around 60 MB) by removing spaces if there are any. I use Sublime Text Editor to load and edit large JSONs.

Currently, I am using the following expression to find quoted strings with spaces:

"([a-zA-Z])+([\s])+([a-zA-Z]*)":

Finds: "First Name":

Then I use the following expression to replace space with underscore with the matched string:

"$1_$3":

Result: "t_Name":

Expected: "First_Name":

I am not able to figure out why I am not able to capture the first word with $1. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Note: There are around 15000 different keys with spaces in the JSON.

`([a-zA-Z])+` and `([\s])+` are repeated capturing groups. They only store the last char after each of these patterns finish matching. Just move the quantifiers into the groups, ``([a-zA-Z]+)`` and `\s+`. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Jan 28 '21 at 23:32

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 28 '21 at 23:28

Use

"([a-zA-Z]+)\s+([a-zA-Z]*)":

See proof

Explanation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "                        '"'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \1:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [a-zA-Z]+                any character of: 'a' to 'z', 'A' to 'Z'
                             (1 or more times (matching the most
                             amount possible))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  \s+                      whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (1 or
                           more times (matching the most amount
                           possible))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \2:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [a-zA-Z]*                any character of: 'a' to 'z', 'A' to 'Z'
                             (0 or more times (matching the most
                             amount possible))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ":                       '":'

@ak2492 You replace with `$1_$2`? As in https://regex101.com/r/lESvwz/2/? — Ryszard Czech, Jan 28 '21 at 23:30

Regex to replace spaces in quoted strings with _ (Sublime)

1 Answers1