CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptregex
Sean H
Sean H

Reputation: 1066

Javascript: Read text file into array, split by regular expression

I need to parse a plaintext file that looks like a log:

11/04/2015 11:45:01: James: Cheers guys, enjoy the weekend!

11/04/2015 12:08:55: Sarah‬: Sounds good James

11/04/2015 12:09:24: ‪Sarah: What are the details of the trip?

11/04/2015 12:19:06: Leah: Driving up on Friday.
Saturday we'll hit the beach.
Sunday paaaaarty!

11/04/2015 12:29:54: ‪James: Nice.

I'm currently parsing by line break:

var messages = data.split('\n');

But this doesn't work where a message contains a line break (see Leah's message above).

What would be the proper way to parse each new entry? Some kind of regular expression date/time match? or Some Regular Expression which parses date as mentioned above ?

Grateful your help.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1962

Answers (2)

ajayramesh
ajayramesh

Reputation: 3784

I think what you can try here is -

If each line stats with a date format then take later part of it as on string till it ends with the another date format.

Dont split using \n instead use the date that is in mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss: format .

Logic needs to applied for below type because your text is in this type as mentioned below--

Date Format starts >> content << Date Format Ends

Make your own Regular Expression using this guide . http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_obj_regexp.asp

Try this Regular Expression to split  /[0-9]+\/[0-9]+\/[0-9]* [0-9]*\:[0-9]*\:[0-9]*\:/g



 var re = /[0-9]+\/[0-9]+\/[0-9]* [0-9]*\:[0-9]*\:[0-9]*\:/g; 
var str = '11/04/2015 11:45:01: James: Cheers guys, enjoy the weekend!\n\n11/04/2015 12:08:55: Sarah‬: Sounds good James\n\n11/04/2015 12:09:24: ‪Sarah: What are the details of the trip?\n\n11/04/2015 12:19:06: Leah: Driving up on Friday.\nSaturday we\'ll hit the beach.\nSunday paaaaarty!\n\n11/04/2015 12:29:54: ‪James: Nice.';
var m;
 
while ((m = re.exec(str)) !== null) {
    if (m.index === re.lastIndex) {
        re.lastIndex++;
    }
    // View your result using the m-variable.
    // eg m[0] etc.
}

Upvotes: 2

shA.t
shA.t

Reputation: 16968

I think you can use a regex like this:

/^[\d\/ :]+:[^:]+:(.*)|(.*)$/gm

Then you can use its substitutions: $1 and $2

[Regex Demo]

Upvotes: 1

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