CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netregex
lowerkey
lowerkey

Reputation: 8325

How can I exclude the first match in a regular expression?

I have the following regex, so far:

([0-9]+){1}\s*[xX]\s*([A-Za-z\./%\$\s\*]+)

to be used on strings such as:

2x Soup, 2x Meat Balls, 4x Iced Tea

My intent was to capture the number of times something was ordered, as well as the name of item ordered.

In this regular expression however, the multiplier 'x' gets captured before the title. How can I make it so that the x is ignored, and what comes after the x (and a space) is captured?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 131

Answers (1)

stema
stema

Reputation: 92976

You can't ignore something in the middle of the pattern. Therefore you do have your capturing groups.

([0-9]+){1}\s*[xX]\s*([A-Za-z\./%\$\s\*]+)
^^^^^^^^             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The marked parts of your pattern are stored in capturing groups, because of the brackets around them.

Your number is in group 1 and the name is in group 2. The "x" is not captured in a group.

How you now access your groups depends on the language you are using.

Btw. the {1} is obsolete.

So for c# try this:

string text = "2x Soup, 2x Meat Balls, 4x Iced Tea";
MatchCollection result = Regex.Matches(text, @"([0-9]+)\s*[xX]\s*([A-Za-z\./%\$\s\*]+)");

int counter = 0;

foreach (Match m in result)
{
    counter++;
    Console.WriteLine("Order {0}: " + m.Groups[1] + " " + m.Groups[2], counter);
}
Console.ReadLine();

Further I would change the regex to this, since it seems you want to match as name every character till the next comma

@"([0-9]+)\s*x\s*([^,]+)"

and use RegexOptions.IgnoreCase to avoid having to write [xX]

Upvotes: 2

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