help parsing a string using Regex

[jmeckley]

the original string would look something like this

[anything] FROM '[anything]' value_2_find [anything]

I want to get the value of [tt]value_2_find[/tt]. which may contain alphanumerics and underscores.
this is what I have now, but it returns the entire string

string substring = Regex.Replace(input, @" FROM '\w+' (\w+) ", "$1");

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.

 

[jmeckley]

figured it out. 1st, I should be using Match, not Replace. after trail and error I came up with this, which works.

Match match = Regex.Match(CommandText, @"FROM '(\S+)' (\w+) ");
if (match.Success)
{
   return match.Result("$2");
}
return string.Empty;

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.

 

[earthandfire]

An alternativre pattern:

[tt](?<=FROM[ ]\S+[ ])\w+[/tt]

then, you just need:

[tt]return match.ToString()[/tt]


The pattern uses a "Positive look behind", meaning only return the desired match if it follows the match in the prefix. In other words, only return:
[tt]\w+[/tt]
if it follows:
[tt]FROM[ ]|S+[ ][/tt]

Hope this helps.