Question

string = myfx("{0}test123", test);
string2 = myfx("actual string");

the lines above are just a couple of 10’s of lines of text in a text file. i iterate the text file and would like to know if there is a single regular expression that will cover the 2 scenarios shown above.

The target strings are “test123” and “actual string”. Is there a way to tell regular expressions not to pull in the “{0}” if it occurs?

Answer 1

To find all text not inside curly brackets, use the regular expression:

(?<=^|\})(?<!\{)[^\{\}]+(?<!\})(?=\{|$)

Test:

Regex filter = new Regex(@"(?<=^|\})(?<!\{)[^\{\}]+(?<!\})(?=\{|$)");
string text = "Blah { Bleh} Blih {Bloh } Bluh";
foreach (Match match in filter.Matches(text))
{
    Console.WriteLine("\"{0}\"", match.Capture[0].Value);
}
Console.ReadLine();

Output:

"Blah "
" Blih "
" Bluh"

This method still has limitations. It assumes curly brackets are paired. While with a lot more work it could be made fool-proof, I’m hoping it suits your case.