Is it possible to use regexp in Inno Setup? - regex

Question

I would like to filter some file in directory.
For example I have directory "MyDir" with 2 files and 1 dir:
foo.doc
foo.mp3
file.txt
file.properties
dir
3.1 foodir.pk
3.2 foodir.txt
I need to define files in one expression:
not ".doc"
not ".mp3"
not "dir\".

Answer 1

No you cannot use regular expressions in Inno Setup.
But you do not need them for your task, just use plain wildcards:
[Files]
Source: "*.*"; Excludes: "*.doc, *.mp3, dir"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: recursesubdirs
See [Files] section in Inno Setup documentation.
Though you cannot use any kind of exclude mask/pattern in [UninstallDelete] and [InstallDelete] sections.
It's for a good reason. You should only delete files you explicitly choose to delete. Not delete all files, only choosing few files you do not want to delete.

Answer 2

Have a look at:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ir9Ex/20120322/1332397961
This particular implementation uses VB RegExp, searching for strings containing.
Update:
Yes and No, not directly
{=============================================================================}
{* Global and case insensitive search. }
{* Usage: <file>, <search>, <replace/return> }
function regExpFile( FileName, RE_Pattern, RE_Replace: ansiString ): string;
var
RegExp: variant;
CntIn, CntOut: longint;
TextRowInAll: tArrayOfString;
TextRowInNum: longint;
TextRowIn: ansiString;
TextRowOut: variant;
TextRowOutAll: ansiString; //* Container for the returned string.
begin
Result := ''; { No matches yet. }
TextRowOutAll := ''; { Default return string. }
CntOut := 0;
try
RegExp := createOleObject( 'VBScript.RegExp' );
except
raiseException('VBScript RegExp is required to complete the post-installation process.'#13#10#13#10'(Error: ' + GetExceptionMessage);
end;
RegExp.Pattern := RE_Pattern;
RegExp.Global := TRUE;
RegExp.IgnoreCase := TRUE;
if loadStringsFromFile( FileName, TextRowInAll ) then begin
TextRowInNum := getArrayLength( TextRowInAll );
for CntIn := 0 to (TextRowInNum - 1) do begin
TextRowIn := TextRowInAll[ CntIn ];
if RegExp.Test( TextRowIn ) then begin { match or nothing... }
TextRowOut := RegExp.Replace( TextRowIn, RE_Replace );
if not varIsClear( TextRowOut ) then begin { At least one match. }
if CntOut < 1 then begin
TextRowOutAll := TextRowOut;
end
else begin
TextRowOutAll := TextRowOutAll + #13#10 + TextRowOut;
end;
CntOut := CntOut + 1;
end;
end;
end;
end;
Result := TextRowOutAll;
end;
{ Ex. Search for and return the numbers only from the string: "...Version: 5.8..." }
{ RE_Pattern := '(.*version.*)([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)(.*)'; }
{ RE_Replace := '[$2]'; }
{ Deps: VBScript.RegExp }
{ 20160828 }
{ (Inspiration) Trackback - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ir9Ex/20120322/1332397961 }
{ Microsoft Beefs Up VBScript with Regular Expressions - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms974570.aspx }
{ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- }