Question

How can I specify to only match the first occurrence of a regular expression in C# using Regex method?

Here’s an example:

string text = @"<link href=""/_layouts/OracleBI/OracleBridge.ashx?RedirectURL=res/sk_oracle10/b_mozilla_4/common.css"" type=""text/css"" rel=""stylesheet""></link></link>";
string pattern = @"(<link).+(link>)";
Regex myRegex = new Regex(pattern, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);

Match m = myRegex.Match(text);   // m is the first match
while (m.Success)
{
    // Do something with m
    Console.Write(m.Value + "\n");
    m = m.NextMatch();              // more matches
}
Console.Read();

I would like this to only replace up to the first <\link>. And then also do the same for the rest of these matches.

Answer 1

I believe you just need to add a lazy qualifier on the first example. Whenever a wild card is “eating too much”, you either need a lazy qualifier on the wild card or, in a more complicated scenario, look ahead. Add a lazy qualifier at the top (.+? in place of .+), and you should be good.