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Is it true C#.NET has no "global flag" for regular expressions?

Many regular expression systems, such as the one for JavaScript, require some kind of "global flag" for a pattern to be matched everywhere (e.g., the regular expression /xyz/g means match "xyz" throughout the target string). Otherwise the match is made only once. Thus for a replacement, all occurrences of the match are replaced (the "g" case) or only the first one (the default case).

C#.NET doesn't seem to have a "global flag". Is this correct -- the default behavior is match every occurrence? And if so, how would you specify to match (e.g., replace) only the first occurrence?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Fernando Soto

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roricka

ASKER

You pointed me in the right direction. I should have asked how to have Replace only replace the first occurrence. I see that Replace is overloaded. By default it replaces all matches, but it is possible to specify the number of replacements (including just 1).

Javascript's approach is clearly less sophisticated, but it was confusing, since in that system the global specifier is given with the regular expression, not implied as an argument to "replace" (note: lower-case "r" for Javascript.)

Anyway, thanks. I marked the solution was "partially" complete more because of my poorly worded question than any fault on your part.

Fernando Soto

Not a problem, glad I was able to get you pointed in the right direction. Have a great day ;=)

Is it true C#.NET has no &quot;global flag&quot; for regular expressions?

Is it true C#.NET has no "global flag" for regular expressions?