help with regex?

**=?Utf-8?B?bWFnZ2ll?=** · Dec 10 '07, 08:35 PM

RE: help with regex?

Hi,
I think I found a better pattern, but I can't seem to get it defined
correctly in a string
I have this:
pattern = "((?:[^',]|(?:'(?:\\{2}|' |[^'])*?'))*)"

I would like to change the single quotes to double quotes, but it doesnt
like what I'm doing. I tried putting escape characters before the " like so:
\", but it does not like it. How in the world can I do this? I've spent about
2 hours on this alone and am stuck. Please advise. Thanks!

"maggie" wrote:

hi,
I need some help with a reg. expression. I have a comma delimited file with
quotes. Not every field has quotes, only some. This is a sample of my file:
99,"01/01/2007","23,000", 1,34,"henry",13 2,"45.00"
>
I used some code from an article that I though would do what I needed, but
it splits my amount fields(76,000 into two different fields : 76, and 000...
Do I change my pattern ? I never used regex before and need some help. thank
you.

Code:

Dim re As Object = SplitAdv(sr.ReadToEnd)
>
Function SplitAdv(ByVal strInput)
        Dim objRE
        Dim pattern As String
        pattern = ",(?=([^']*'[^']*')*(?![^']*'))"
        objRE = New Regex(pattern)
        ' .Replace replaces the comma that we will use with
        ' chr(8), the \b character which is extremely unlikely
        ' to appear in any string it then splits the line into
        ' an array based on the \b
        'Console.WriteLine(objRE.ToString)
        SplitAdv = Split(objRE.Replace(strInput, "\b"), "\b")
>
    End Function

>
>

**eBob.com** · Dec 10 '07, 09:35 PM

Re: help with regex?

You might find Expresso useful (http://www.ultrapico.com/).

Since I already have a headache from my own regex mystery today I did not
try to understand your pattern, and I have never used the Regex Split
method. But I did play around with your basic problem and came up with the
following pattern

((?<q>"?)[/,\w\d\.]+\k<q>,?)

which yields this result

99,
"01/01/2007",
"23,000",
1,34,
"henry",
132,
"45.00"

when fed your sample data. IF that's what you want, and IF you don't need
to use the Split method.

Good Luck, Bob

"maggie" <maggie@discuss ions.microsoft. comwrote in message
news:25C81777-D4BE-49F7-8FE2-347FAD883869@mi crosoft.com...

hi,
I need some help with a reg. expression. I have a comma delimited file
with
quotes. Not every field has quotes, only some. This is a sample of my
file:
99,"01/01/2007","23,000", 1,34,"henry",13 2,"45.00"
>
I used some code from an article that I though would do what I needed, but
it splits my amount fields(76,000 into two different fields : 76, and
000...
Do I change my pattern ? I never used regex before and need some help.
thank
you.

Code:

Dim re As Object = SplitAdv(sr.ReadToEnd)
>
Function SplitAdv(ByVal strInput)
       Dim objRE
       Dim pattern As String
       pattern = ",(?=([^']*'[^']*')*(?![^']*'))"
       objRE = New Regex(pattern)
       ' .Replace replaces the comma that we will use with
       ' chr(8), the \b character which is extremely unlikely
       ' to appear in any string it then splits the line into
       ' an array based on the \b
       'Console.WriteLine(objRE.ToString)
       SplitAdv = Split(objRE.Replace(strInput, "\b"), "\b")
>
   End Function

>
>

**=?Utf-8?B?bWFnZ2ll?=** · Dec 10 '07, 09:45 PM

Re: help with regex?

I ,too,have a big headache, but you helped. I'm going to try it. Thanks very
much.

"eBob.com" wrote:

You might find Expresso useful (http://www.ultrapico.com/).
>
Since I already have a headache from my own regex mystery today I did not
try to understand your pattern, and I have never used the Regex Split
method. But I did play around with your basic problem and came up with the
following pattern
>
((?<q>"?)[/,\w\d\.]+\k<q>,?)
>
which yields this result
>
99,
"01/01/2007",
"23,000",
1,34,
"henry",
132,
"45.00"
>
when fed your sample data. IF that's what you want, and IF you don't need
to use the Split method.
>
Good Luck, Bob
>
>
"maggie" <maggie@discuss ions.microsoft. comwrote in message
news:25C81777-D4BE-49F7-8FE2-347FAD883869@mi crosoft.com...

hi,
I need some help with a reg. expression. I have a comma delimited file
with
quotes. Not every field has quotes, only some. This is a sample of my
file:
99,"01/01/2007","23,000", 1,34,"henry",13 2,"45.00"

I used some code from an article that I though would do what I needed, but
it splits my amount fields(76,000 into two different fields : 76, and
000...
Do I change my pattern ? I never used regex before and need some help.
thank
you.

Code:

 Dim re As Object = SplitAdv(sr.ReadToEnd)

 Function SplitAdv(ByVal strInput)
        Dim objRE
        Dim pattern As String
        pattern = ",(?=([^']*'[^']*')*(?![^']*'))"
        objRE = New Regex(pattern)
        ' .Replace replaces the comma that we will use with
        ' chr(8), the \b character which is extremely unlikely
        ' to appear in any string it then splits the line into
        ' an array based on the \b
        'Console.WriteLine(objRE.ToString)
        SplitAdv = Split(objRE.Replace(strInput, "\b"), "\b")

    End Function

>
>
>

**=?Utf-8?B?bWFnZ2ll?=** · Dec 10 '07, 09:45 PM

Re: help with regex?

eBob,

The dollar amounts came out on their own, but I still have some all strung
together with commas, which is better than what I had. I'll see if i can
separate them. Thanks again.

"eBob.com" wrote:

You might find Expresso useful (http://www.ultrapico.com/).
>
Since I already have a headache from my own regex mystery today I did not
try to understand your pattern, and I have never used the Regex Split
method. But I did play around with your basic problem and came up with the
following pattern
>
((?<q>"?)[/,\w\d\.]+\k<q>,?)
>
which yields this result
>
99,
"01/01/2007",
"23,000",
1,34,
"henry",
132,
"45.00"
>
when fed your sample data. IF that's what you want, and IF you don't need
to use the Split method.
>
Good Luck, Bob
>
>
"maggie" <maggie@discuss ions.microsoft. comwrote in message
news:25C81777-D4BE-49F7-8FE2-347FAD883869@mi crosoft.com...

hi,
I need some help with a reg. expression. I have a comma delimited file
with
quotes. Not every field has quotes, only some. This is a sample of my
file:
99,"01/01/2007","23,000", 1,34,"henry",13 2,"45.00"

I used some code from an article that I though would do what I needed, but
it splits my amount fields(76,000 into two different fields : 76, and
000...
Do I change my pattern ? I never used regex before and need some help.
thank
you.

Code:

 Dim re As Object = SplitAdv(sr.ReadToEnd)

 Function SplitAdv(ByVal strInput)
        Dim objRE
        Dim pattern As String
        pattern = ",(?=([^']*'[^']*')*(?![^']*'))"
        objRE = New Regex(pattern)
        ' .Replace replaces the comma that we will use with
        ' chr(8), the \b character which is extremely unlikely
        ' to appear in any string it then splits the line into
        ' an array based on the \b
        'Console.WriteLine(objRE.ToString)
        SplitAdv = Split(objRE.Replace(strInput, "\b"), "\b")

    End Function

>
>
>

help with regex?

help with regex?

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