How can I extract the longest of groups which start the same way
For example, from a given string, I want to extract the longest match to either CS or CSI.
I tried this "(CS|CSI).*" and it it will return CS rather than CSI even if CSI is available.
If I do "(CSI|CS).*" then I do get CSI if it’s a match, so I gues the solution is to always place the shorter of the overlaping groups after the longer one.
Is there a clearer way to express this with re’s? somehow it feels confusing that the result depends on the order you link the groups.
No, that’s just how it works, at least in Perl-derived regex flavors like Python, JavaScript, .NET, etc.
http://www.regular-expressions.info/alternation.html