How can I select and crop certain characters from a string? - regex

Question

For this code, I am having a problem in using the MID and INSTR functions:
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set file = objFSO.OpenTextFile("sample.txt" , ForReading)
Const ForReading = 1
Dim re
Dim controller
Dim action
Set re = new regexp
re.pattern = "(contextPath\s*?[+]\s*?[""][/]\w+?[?]action[=]\w+?[""])"
re.IgnoreCase = True
re.Global = True
Dim line
Do Until file.AtEndOfStream
line = file.ReadLine
For Each m In re.Execute(line)
var = m.Submatches(0)
'I am having a problem with the next two lines:
controller = Mid(var, 1, InStr(var, "contextPath\")) & "[?]action[=]\w+?[""]n"
action = Mid(var, 1, InStr(var, "contextPath\s*?[+]\s*?[""][/]\w+?[?]action[=]")) & """"
Wscript.Echo "controller :" & controller
Wscript.Echo "action: " & action
Next
Loop
With the text file "sample.txt":
contextPath+"/GIACOrderOfPaymentController?action=showORDetails"
contextPath +"/GIACPremDepositController?action=showPremDep"
contextPath+ "/GIACCommPaytsController?action=showCommPayts"
(Notice the spaces beside the plus(+) sign)
How can I make the output look like this:
controller: GIACOrderOfPaymentController
controller: GIACPremDepositController
controller: GIACCommPaytsController
action: showORDetails
action: showPremDep
action: showCommPayts

Answer 1

Instead of capturing the full line, capture the needed data
Option Explicit
Const ForReading = 1
Dim re
Set re = New RegExp
With re
.Pattern = "contextPath\s*\+\s*\""/(\w+)\?action=(\w+)\"""
.IgnoreCase = True
.Global = True
End With
Dim controllers, actions
Set controllers = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Set actions = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Dim file
Set file = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").OpenTextFile("sample.txt" , ForReading)
Dim line, m
Do Until file.AtEndOfStream
line = file.ReadLine
For Each m In re.Execute(line)
controllers.Add "K" & controllers.Count, m.Submatches(0)
actions.Add "K" & actions.Count, m.Submatches(1)
Next
Loop
Dim item
For Each item in controllers.Items()
WScript.Echo "controller: " & item
Next
WScript.Echo ""
For Each item in actions.Items()
WScript.Echo "action: " & item
Next