Reputation: 21

Exclude one character, exclude one space, then 4 spaces

I want to match this: exclude one character, exclude one space, then 4 spaces

here is what I tried but does not work

[^a-z0-9]{1}[^ ]{1}[ ]{4}

I just want the 4 spaces, but before those 4 spaces there should be one character and one space, I don't know if I can

Upvotes: 0

Answers (4)

Reputation: 2085

For increased portability (look-behinds aren't supported everywhere), readability, and simplicity, try this regex.

(?:\w\s)(\s{4})

The first matching group will be your spaces as desired.

Upvotes: 0

Reputation: 31011

You wrote exclude, but I suppose you want to:

If this is the case, use the following regex:

[a-z0-9] ([ ]{4})(.*)

The four spaces (after initial char and space) will be in capture group #1 and the rest of the text will be in capture group #2.

Upvotes: 0

Reputation: 91518

If I well understand your need, this will do the job:

(?<=\w ) {4}

This is matching 4 spaces preceeded by an alphanumeric character and a space

Upvotes: 1

Reputation: 1653

This regex matches four spaces if they're preceeded by a lowercase letter/digit and one space.

(?<=[a-z0-9] ) {4}

Upvotes: 0