Question

I’ve got the following file: http://pastebin.com/PZYSv1i3

Every line in this file ends with an apotrophe as a seperator. I’m in need of a RegEx that matches every apostrophe between IMD+F++::: and the seperator (‘).

I’ve got the RegEx below to match all the text between the IMD+F++::: and the following seperator, but I’m in need of a RegEx that fetches only the excess apostrophes.

(?<=IMD\+F\+\+:::)(.*?)(?='\n)

Answer 1

The below regex in .NET :

(?<=IMD\+F\+\+:::.*)'(?!\r?\n)

will match only the “extra” apostrophes that you wish.

Regex regexObj = new Regex(@"(?<=IMD\+F\+\+:::.*)'(?!\r\n)");
    Match matchResults = regexObj.Match(subjectString);
    while (matchResults.Success) {
        // matched text: matchResults.Value
        // match start: matchResults.Index
        // match length: matchResults.Length
        matchResults = matchResults.NextMatch();
    } 

Explanation :

    "
(?<=      # Assert that the regex below can be matched, with the match ending at this position (positive lookbehind)
   IMD       # Match the characters “IMD” literally
   \+        # Match the character “+” literally
   F         # Match the character “F” literally
   \+        # Match the character “+” literally
   \+        # Match the character “+” literally
   :::       # Match the characters “:::” literally
   .         # Match any single character that is not a line break character
      *         # Between zero and unlimited times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
)
'         # Match the character “'” literally
(?!       # Assert that it is impossible to match the regex below starting at this position (negative lookahead)
   \r        # Match a carriage return character
      ?         # Between zero and one times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
   \n        # Match a line feed character
)
"