Regex to extract all strings from source code used when calling a function - regex

Question

We have an old, grown project with thousands of php files and need to clean it up.
Throughout the whole project we do have a lot of function calls similar to:
trans('somestring1');
trans("SomeString2");
trans('more_string',$somevar);
trans("anotherstring4",$somevar);
trans($tx_key);
trans($anotherKey,$somevar);
All of those are embedded into the code and represent translation keys. I would like to find a way to extract all "translation keys" in all occurrences.
The PHP project is in VS Code, so a RegEx Search would be helpful to list the results.
Or I could search through the project with any other tool you would recommend
However I would also need to "export" just the strings to a textfile or similar.
The ideal result would be:
somestring1
SomeString2
more_string
anotherstring4
$tx_key
$anotherKey
As a bonus - if someone knows, how I could get the above list including filename where the result has been found - that would be really fantastic!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Update:
The RegEx I came up with:
/(trans)+\([^\)]*\)(\.[^\)]*\))?/gim
list the full occurrence - How can I just get the first part of the result (between Single Quotes OR between Double Quotes OR beginning with $)
See here: regexr.com/548d4

Answer 1

Here are some steps to get exactly what you want. Using this you can do a find and replace on your search results!
So you could do sequential regex find/replaces in the right circumstances.
The replace can be just within the search results editor and not affect the underlying files at all - which is what you want.
You can also have the replace action actually edit the underlying files if you wish.
[Hint: This technique can also make doing a find item a / replace with b in files that contain term c much easier to do.]
(1) Open a new search editor: Ctrl+Shift+P
(That command is currently unbound to a keybinding.)
(2) Paste this regex into the Search input box (with the regex option .* selected):
`(.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]+)(.*)` - a relatively simple regex
regex101 demo
See my other answer for a regex to work with up to 6 entries per line:
(\s*\d+:\s)?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*)((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?)(.*)
(3) You will get a list of files with the search results. Now open a Find widget Shift+F in this Search editor.
(4) Put the same regex into that Find input. Regex option selected. Put $3 into the Replace field. This only replaces in this Search editor - not the original files (although that can be done if you want it in some case). Replace All.
If using the 1-6 version regex, replace with:
$1$5 $9 $13 $17 $21 $25
(5) Voila. You can now save this Search Editor as a file.

Answer 2

The first answer works for one desired capture per line as in the original question. But that relatively simple regex won't work if there are two or more per line.
The regex below works for up to 6 entries per line, like
trans('somestring1');
stuff trans("SomeString2"); some content trans("SomeString2a");more stuff [repeat, repeat]
But it doesn't for 7+ - you'll need a regex guru for that.
Here is the process again with a twist of using a snippet in the Search Editor instead of a Find/Replace. Using a snippet allows more control over the formatting of the final result.
(1) Open a new search editor: Ctrl+Shift+P (That command is currently unbound to a keybinding.)
(2) Paste this regex into the Search input box (with the regex option .* selected):
`((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*)((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?((.*?)(\btrans\(['"]?)([^,'")]*))?)(.*)`
regex101 demo
(3) You will get a list of files with the search results. Now select all your results individually with Ctrl+Shift+L.
(4) Trigger this keybinding:
{
"key": "alt+i", // whatever keybinding you like
"command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
"when": "editorTextFocus",
"args": {
"snippet": "${TM_SELECTED_TEXT/((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*)((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?((.*?)(\\btrans\\([\\'\\\"]?)([^,\\'\\\")]*))?)(.*)/$4${8:+\n }$8${12:+\n }$12${16:+\n }$16${20:+\n }$20${24:+\n }$24/g}"
}
},
That snippet will be applied to each selection in your search result. This part ${8:+\n } is a conditional which adds a newline and some spaces if there is a capture group 8 - which would be a second trans(...) on a line.
Demo: (unfortunately, it doesn't properly show the Ctrl+Shift+L selecting all lines individually or the Alt+i snippet trigger)