Question

I am using this RegEx to match a word before a colon.

([^\s]+)\:

However, how would I change this so it will only match the word if the line does not begin with a hyphen/dash?

EDIT

Should match:

     [object doSomething:foo];

Shouldn’t match:

- (void)doSomething:(NSString *)string;

Answer 1

^[^:-].*?:\s*

Should do the trick. (Assuming that the DOT_ALL modifier is not used.)

[^:-] // One char, not a hyphen or colon
.*? // Perhaps more, non-greedy
:\s* // Colon and optionally spaces

Ergo: At least one character before the first colon. First character cannot be a hyphen or colon.

Alternatively ^[^:-][^:]*:\s* if you find that easier to read.

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EDIT:
According to comment this was what solved OPs problem:

^([^:-][^:]*):