[Solved] A Search RegEx Problem

[Butch1]

Hi!

I would like to search for (and replace) substrings like this:
a.*b
i.e. beginning with a, then any number of other characters, then THE FIRST occuring b.
Example:
a12345b6789b1234 > a12345b (not a12345b6789b).

Thank you in advance!

[RoryOF]

Do you wish to discard all characters after the first "b"?

[Butch1]

??? No! As described: I want to search for strings a.....b and replace them.

[keme]

Regular expressions use "greedy" matching, so they will match the largest chunk they can.

You want a RegEx to "find 'a', then the first 'b' after a number of arbitrary characters". To put that into a RegEx is simplest when you partially invert the logic: "find a 'b' after a number of characters which are not 'b'."

In regex that would be

Code: Select all

a[^b]*b

[Butch1]

@keme:
Thank you very much!!!
Unfortunately my question was a reduced one: My real problem is to find the smallest chunk beginning with a string and ending with another string. Something like this:
abcStringAdefghStringBijklmnStringBopqrts
Result: StringAdefghStringB
Do you have a hint for this case too?
Butch

[karolus]

Hallo

you need an non-greedy expression:

stringa.*?stringb

[Butch1]

@karolus:
Hallelujah!
Thank you!!!

[keme]

Great! I learned something. Thanks, Karolus.