CODEWITHSUNDEEP
regexpython-3.x
user6304394
user6304394

Reputation:

Regular expression for matching a specifc substring of a string

I have a log file that logs connection drops of computers in a LAN. I want to extract name of each computer from every line of the log file and for that I am doing this: (?<=Name:)\w+|(-PC)

The target text:

 `[C417] ComputerName:KCUTSHALL-PC UserID:GO kcutshall Station 9900 (locked) LanId: | (11/23 10:54:09 - 11/23 10:54:44) | Average limit (300) exceeded while pinging www.google.com [74.125.224.147] 8x

[C445] ComputerName:FRONTOFFICE UserID:YB Yenae Ball Station 7C  LanId: | (11/23 17:02:00) | Client is connected to agent.`

enter image description here

The problem is that some computer names have -PC in them and in some isn't. The expression I have created matches computer without -PC in their names but it if a computer has -PC in the name, it treats that as a separate match and I don't want that. In short, it gives me 3 matches, but I want only 2. That's why I need help here, I am beginner in regex.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 49

Answers (1)

Wiktor Stribiżew
Wiktor Stribiżew

Reputation: 627380

You may use

(?<=Name:)\w+(?:-PC)?

Details

  • (?<=Name:) - a place immediately preceded with Name:
  • \w+ - 1+ word chars
  • (?:-PC)? - an optional non-capturing group that matches 1 or 0 occurrences of -PC substring.

Consider using word boundaries if you need to match PC as a whole word,

(?<=Name:)\w+(?:-PC\b)?

See the regex demo.

Upvotes: 1

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