CODEWITHSUNDEEP
regex
user3601725
user3601725

Reputation: 515

Escaping Parentheses in Regex

I have a regex which has optional anchors at the end e.g.

(\.|,|\/)

I am trying to add ")" to this but if I escape it 

(/.|,|\/|\))

it isn't found and if don't escape it is treated as part of the expression and fails since there is no open parens. How can I escape it so it is treated as a character and found?

Upvotes: 36

Views: 91016

Answers (4)

ΩmegaMan
ΩmegaMan

Reputation: 31606

Alternative Solution

Instead of a set, it can be easier to use the hex code. This code does not need a C# escape.

Example

The hex code for a ( is \x28 and its counterpart ) is \x29.

To use in a pattern would look exactly like this to find anything between the parenthesis

\x28[^\x29]+\x29 which escaped would be \)[^)]+\)

or searched in a different way:

\x28.+?\x29

Which all previous patterns would be able to match:

(abc)

I also use this in my regex patterns for the double quotes (\x22) and the single quote (\x27) which is the apostrophe.

It just makes working with the regex patterns easier while C# coding.

Upvotes: 15

Alex Unger
Alex Unger

Reputation: 180

Your regex should look like this: (\.|,|\/|\))

Test it out with http://rubular.com/

Upvotes: 2

Tim Pietzcker
Tim Pietzcker

Reputation: 336128

If you want to match one of a set of character, it's best to use a character class. And within such a class, most escaping rules don't apply.

So to match a dot, comma, slash or closing parenthesis, you can use

[.,/)]

Upvotes: 36

Farhad Alizadeh Noori
Farhad Alizadeh Noori

Reputation: 2306

\) is the correct way for escaping a paranthesis. Make sure you are properly escaping the \(\\) in the string literal.

Upvotes: 42

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