Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of rrhandle8
rrhandle8Flag for United States of America

asked on

Regular expression to extract a string

I need to extract 1.50 in this string from the source code of the web page, or the entire line and then I'll parse it down to the 1.50.
<\/span>\n\n\n"},"MNN$":{"9303565":"$1.50"},"WARRANTY":{}}),

I am using Excel VBA.

Here is the function

Sub ExtractData()

Dim regEx
Dim i As Long
Dim pattern As String
Set regEx = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
regEx.IgnoreCase = True
regEx.Global = True
regEx.pattern = "[what do I put in here?]"


End Sub
Avatar of rrhandle8
rrhandle8
Flag of United States of America image

ASKER

I should have add this clue. The string below is unique in the document

"MNN$":{"9303565":"$1.50"}
Avatar of aikimark
include the quotes in the expression.  You will need to double the quotes inside a string.
"$(\d+\.\d\d)"

Open in new window

First I need to extract the entire line from the html document.
no, you don't
If you need just that one item, among many similar items, use this pattern
{"9303565":"$(\d+\.\d\d)"}

Open in new window

OK. Thanks. I will try it.
regEx.pattern = "{"9303565":"$(\d+\.\d\d)"}"

Expect end of statement error
As I stated earlier, in order for a string literal to contain quote characters, the internal quote characters need to be doubled.
regEx.pattern = "{""9303565"":""$(\d+\.\d\d)""}"

Open in new window

That didn't work either.  
The 9303565 is a unique number, so I can understand why it does work on the items I an feeding.
The line would be like "MNN$":{"9303565":"$1.50"} where 9303565 changes, then the MNN$":{ is unique within the document.
That didn't work either.
Are you still getting an error message?
What string are you using for your pattern matching?  Are you sure it contains the 9303565 data?
I'm stepping away from the keyboard for a while.
9303565 is a unique number that changes on each web page.  I am looking for the $1.50 that is to the right of it.
the 1.50 will be in submatches(0)

If the number changes, then I should be able to alter the pattern to work in the general case if you tell me more about those values.
aikimark,  Thanks for the help.  I solved the problem using a different technique, but I would like to know how to do this with regular expressions.

There is only one line in the html that contains MNN$":{"9303565":"$1.50"}
The only thing that changes is the long number in the middle and the price.
There is always a long number in the middle, and a price at the end.
I have discovered that I need to extract long number in the middle and the price.
The regular expression should return (in this case) 9303565 and 1.50.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of aikimark
aikimark
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial