I'm playing around with RegEx but I'm by no means a pro and I can't quite get this to work properly in http://www.regexr.com/
(Being in a rush doesn't help ...)
I have two dozen ".ST" files, basically PLC code which seems to be similar to C syntax. So all the comments are // or (* ... *)
I'm a translator and I'm supposed to translate ONLY the comments, so my thought was to use Find/Replace in Notepad++ and find everything which was NOT a comment, replace it with blank, in order to, in the end, have a document with only comments. So I'm not sure what to do with a RegEx that matches comments, because I don't want to delete those and can't "replace" it with anything... Make any sense???
Thanks so much for your help!
Simple answer
Not what you asked for, but I believe this is what you want to do. All you need is catch the comments and remove them. To do that:
~(?<!\\)//[^\n\r]*|(?<!\\)\(\*.*?(?<!\\)\*\)~sg
will select all the text following // on the line, and all text (multiline) enclosed in (* *). Afterwards you just need to replaced all selection with the empty string "".
For info, (?<! ) patterns are look behind: they're here to make sure the comment's limits aren't escaped. \//I wanna keep this code shouldn't be matched, code (*foo\*)bar*) should select (*foo\*)bar*).
Crazy overkill [shouldn't use]
For the record, and because it is too damn tempting to go for the monstrous regex when there's a simple obvious answer, and because I didn't saw that before way too long... You shouldn't use this.
~(?:^//.*$|\(\*.*?\*\)|([^(\n]+)|(\())~mg
might catch what you you want in variables \1 and \2.
^//.*$ catches lines beginning with // (though you might want to also catch the code before the // in a line resembling cool code //this was cool code)
\(\*.*?\*\) catches anything between (* *) (though not if there's a newline... You could use (?s:\(\*.*?\*\)) if your regex flavor supports it. And it probably isn't speed-optimized)
([^(\n]+]) looks for (and selects) anything ON THIS LINE that isn't an opening parenthesis. This means that multiline code, unsprinkled with comments, will be cut into lines. You may change this behavior with something like (?s:((?:(?!\n/|\().)+)).
(\() matches the open parenthesis that stopped the previous pattern, only if it isn't the beginning of a (* comment.
You can see it in action here: http://regex101.com/r/aX6sF7, but I do believe it can be greatly simplified.
This will match any line starting with //:
^\/\/.*$
This will match anything between * and *:
\*[^\*]*\*
Related
I am trying to catch a series of tags with regex (for use in Atom on Mac):
<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference">[23]</sup>
So far I mustered this:
<sup.id="cite_ref-\[\d{1,2}\]".class="reference">\[\d{1,2}\]</sup>
I also tried something in the line of:
<sup.id\=\"\=.*(\d{1,2}\])</sup>
And this catches all of the stuff, but it doesn't stop on first iteration, but keeps on moving:
<sup.*>(\d{1,2}\])</sup>
But it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?
Regex is character sensitive, an extra or lacking one ruins whole process. Having that said, you have many like \=\"\=. Besides, you should use a non-greedy or restrictive match. Basically you are doing this:
<sup[^>]*>\[\d+\]</sup>
Live demo
I am in need of a Sublime Text 2 friendly regex that would allow me to search for all comments within a file.
The comments are all following this basic structure /* <anything> */
Thanks for taking the time to help :)
Search for:
(?s)/\*.*?\*/
This allows you to match comments that spreads over multiple lines.
The (?s) turns on "single line" mode, which makes . matches any character without exception (by default, . excludes line separators).
This assumes that there is no /* or */ inside a string literal.
Or if you want a bullet-proof solution, you may want to take a look at this question:
Can we make use of syntax highlighting feature to remove all comments from a source file in SublimeText?
Something like this should work:
\/\*.+?\*\/
I'm not super-familiar with Sublime Text, but this would work in Notepad++, and I believe the regex implementation is basically the same. If I'm wrong, feel free to let me know.
Edit: Per CAustin's helpful tip, you can also just do this (without the escaping of the forward slashes):
/\*.+?\*/
I think this code is better:
\/\*[^(?:\*\/)]*\*\/
I am trying to write a regular expression which finds all the comments in text.
For example all between /* */.
Example:
/* Hello */
When I do this:/\*.*\*/, it behaves odd and nothing is shown. What is wrong with it?
EDIT: The comments can be spread across multiple lines
Unlike the example posted above, you were trying to match comments that spanned multiple lines. By default, . does not match a line break. Thus you have to enable multi-line mode in the regex to match multi-line comments.
Also, you probably need to use .*? instead of .*. Otherwise it will make the largest match possible, which will be everything between the first open comment and the last close comment.
I don't know how to enable multi-line matching mode in Sublime Text 2. I'm not sure it is available as a mode. However, you can insert a line break into the actual pattern by using CTRL + Enter. So, I would suggest this alternative:
/\*(.|\n)*?\*/
If Sublime Text 2 doesn't recognize the \n, you could alternatively use CTRL + Enter to insert a line break in the pattern, in place of \n.
I encountered this problem several years ago and wrote an entire article about it.
If you don't have access to non-greedy matching (not all regex libraries support non-greedy) then you should use this regex:
/\*([^*]|[\r\n]|(\*+([^*/]|[\r\n])))*\*+/
If you do have access to non-greedy matching then you can use:
/\*(.|[\r\n])*?\*/
Also, keep in mind that regular expressions are just a heuristic for this problem. Regular expressions don't support cases in which something appears to be a comment to the regular expression but actually isn't:
someString = "An example comment: /* example */";
// The comment around this code has been commented out.
// /*
some_code();
// */
Just want to add for HTML Comments is is this
\<!--(.|\n)*?-->
Just an additionnal note about using regex to remove comments inside a programming language file.
Warning!
Doing this you must not forget the case where you have the string /* or */ inside a string in the code - like var string = "/*"; - (we never know if you parse a huge code that is not yours)!
So the best is to parse the document with a programming language and have a boolean to save the state of an open string (and ignore any match inside open string).
Again a string delimited by " can contain a \" so pay attention with the regex!
You cannot write a regular expression that would be able to correctly find all comments, or even one type of comments - single-line or multiline.
Regular expressions can only provide a partial match, one that would would cover perhaps 90% of all cases, but that's it.
The syntax for regular expression is so complex, it is only possible to identify them correctly in 100% of cases by doing a full expression evaluation, which in turn is based on tokenizing the code. The latter is a huge task, which is implemented by all AST parsers today. See AST Explorer
Only a proper-written AST parser can tell you precisely where all regular expressions are located in your code. You would have to write a parser then based on that.
Or, you could use one of the existing libraries that already do all that, like decomment.
RegEx examples where any head-on approach is going to stumble, being unable to tell a regular expression from a comment block:
/\// - it will think this reg-ex is a single-line comment
/\/*/ - it will think this reg-ex opens a multi-line comment
The answer which user1919238 wrote works. Just corroborating that here, although the many upvotes probably do give you a clue.
It got rid of all these annoying block comments, put here just to show the usefulness/thank user1919238 for saving time:
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if you want to replace the obnoxious comment from flutter main.dart,
Press cmd +r on mac or cntrl+ r on windows,
type //.* into the box above, leave the box below empty
click .* on the replace dialog, to activate regex,
then click on replace all. this will remove all your comments, you can do this if you want to remove all comments in any file in a flutter.
Additional, to reformat the main.dart
press cmd+a on mac and cntrl+a on windows,
then press cmd+alt(option)+l or cntrl+alt+l, this will reformat the code.
I will attach a picture of the main. dart, the green .* at the top of the page is what you will press to activate the regex.
I have written this regex that works, but honestly, it’s like 75% guesswork.
The goal is this: I have lots of imports in Xcode, like so:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "NSString+MultilineFontSize.h"
and I only want to return the categories that contain +. There are also lots of lines of code throughout the source which include + in other contexts.
Right now, this returns all of the proper lines throughout the Xcode project. But if there is one thing I’ve learned from googling and searching Stack Overflow for regex tutorials, it is that there are LOTS of different ways to do things. I’d love to see all of the different ways you guys can come up with that make it either more efficient or more bulletproof regarding potential spoofs or misses.
^\#import+.[\"]*+.(?:(?!\+).)*+.*[\"]
Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Update
Also I suppose I’ll accept the answer of whoever does this with the shortest string, without missing any possible spoofs. But again, thanks to everyone who participates in this learning experience.
Resources from answers
This is an awesome resource for practicing regex from Dan Rasmussen: RegExr
The first thing I notice is that your + characters are misplaced: t+. matches t one or more times, followed by a single character .. I'm assuming you wanted to match the end of import, followed by one or more of any character: import.+
Secondly, # doesn't need to be escaped.
Here's what I came up with: ^#import\s+(.*\+.*)$
\s+ matches one or more whitespace character, so you're guaranteed that the line actually starts with #import and not #importbutnotreally or anything else.
I'm not familiar with xcode syntax, but the following part of the expression, (.*\+.*), simply matches any string with a + character somewhere in it. This means invalid imports may be matched, but I'm working under the assumption your trying to match valid code. If not, this will need to be modified to validate the importer syntax as well.
P.S. To test your expression, try RegExr. You can hover over characters to check what they do.
sed 's:^#import \(.*[+].*\):\1:' FILE
will display
"NSString+MultilineFontSize.h"
for your sample.
It's easy when you understand...unfortunately, I don't! I will deeply appreciate you if you can guide me to the answer, thanks.
I want to capture a string, using just regex, but remove any text that's within brackets. e.g.
This is a typical string...
<td class="rc_entry_alt" >Mark Anthony (IRE)</td>
I can capture "Mark Anthony (IRE)" very easily. I'm currently using...
/<td class="rc_entry(_alt)?" >.*<\/td>/
What i'd like is to remove the " (IRE)". Note the preceding space prior to the first bracket. I want to remove this too. Also, the text between the ( and ) will vary, e.g. USA, ITY, FR, etc. It should look like this...
Mark Anthony
I've no doubt it's very simple, and yet it eludes me. Thanks for your time :)
n.b. The stuff in brackets isn't always there. Sometimes I get what I want with the original code I mentioned.
Your Regexp would look something like that. The acutal Syntax depends on your programming language / tool.
First you need to match the <td ..> part. Then you capute everything upto (. then to be sure match everything in brackets followed by </td>.
/<td[^>].*>\([^(]*\)(.*)</td>/
You should read the Book: Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey Friedl.
Okay, so remove the HTML first, then do something like this to remove the (...) part:
\s+\(.*?\)
If you know the (...) part is the very last thing in the string (i.e. there's nothing after it), you can use this to check that it's at the end, too:
\s+\(.*?\)$
Just use a Regex find and replace function, find the expression above, and replace with nothing.