CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonregex
Gillespie
Gillespie

Reputation: 6561

Regex Super Non-Greedy

I am trying to build a "super non-greedy" regex, for lack of a better phrase. The problem I'm having is distilled as follows:

https://regex101.com/r/wuwOGd/2

Regex: \/\*\*(.*?)\*\/\w+\d+ Sample String: /**word1*/asdf /**word2*/abc123

What I want it to do: Only match the second token so I can extract word2.

What it's doing: Matching word1*/asdf /**word2 which is technically correct, so I can't blame the regex for doing what I told it to do. But is there a way I can have the regex "fail" as soon as it has to expand beyond the first */?

I'm using python in this particular case to match comment blocks attached to functions with certain signatures.

Edit:

As pointed out below, it turns out the magic word I was searching for was "tempered", not "super"!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 82

Answers (2)

ctwheels
ctwheels

Reputation: 22837

See regex in use here

/\*{2}((?:(?!\*/).)*)\*/\w+\d+

Alternatively, without having to capture it (assuming PCRE). See regex in use here

/\*{2}\K(?:(?!\*/).)*(?=\*/\w+\d+)

This method uses a tempered greedy token to ensure it matches any character except where */ is found.

Upvotes: 2

mrzasa
mrzasa

Reputation: 23347

You can use negated class instead of non-greedy repetition: \/\*\*([^*]*)\*\/\w+\d+ https://regex101.com/r/wuwOGd/3

as the token you look for is delimited with * it's quite safe.

Upvotes: 2

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