asked on Matching VbCrLf with RegEx
Hello Experts,
I could use some help with Regular Expressions. My problem is easy to explain:
Normally the pattern I am trying to match looks like this:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
The match syntax looks like this:
(CASUALTY.*\/.*)\/\/
Which returns:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
The problem is that sometimes the message comes in with a VbCrLf somewhere in the string and it returns a null.
I tried to but \r\n in various places but nothing seems to work. Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated!
I could use some help with Regular Expressions. My problem is easy to explain:
Normally the pattern I am trying to match looks like this:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
The match syntax looks like this:
(CASUALTY.*\/.*)\/\/
Which returns:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
The problem is that sometimes the message comes in with a VbCrLf somewhere in the string and it returns a null.
I tried to but \r\n in various places but nothing seems to work. Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated!
Regular ExpressionsMicrosoft Access
Last Comment
John Clark
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My best advice will be to look at an online regex tester site, such as https://regexr.com/
Everything is explained there (and much better than I will ever do).
Everything is explained there (and much better than I will ever do).
ASKER
Will do and thanks again!
ASKER
Opps...I spoke too soon. It is grabbing everything after the escaped "//" (\/\/). I want the pattern match to stop after it finds it...
Guess in its actual form, the regex isn't precise enough.
You'll need to provide more details about the message's structure, so we can write a more accurate regex.
You'll need to provide more details about the message's structure, so we can write a more accurate regex.
ASKER
Sure thing, and thanks for sticking with this.
The complete message can look like this:
FM SOMBODY
TO SOMEBODY ELSE
REF/A/SOME OBSCURE BOOK//
MSGID/CASREP/DDG 123/123//
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
1. THE PROBLEM IS THIS
//
THE END
The pattern you provided grabs returns:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
1. THE PROBLEM IS THIS
//
THE END
What I want is:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
Hope this clears it up and thanks again...
The complete message can look like this:
FM SOMBODY
TO SOMEBODY ELSE
REF/A/SOME OBSCURE BOOK//
MSGID/CASREP/DDG 123/123//
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
1. THE PROBLEM IS THIS
//
THE END
The pattern you provided grabs returns:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
1. THE PROBLEM IS THIS
//
THE END
What I want is:
CASUALTY/INITIAL-17051/STB
Hope this clears it up and thanks again...
After a quick analysis in the part you want to extract, it looks like you have:
the word CASUALTY (is that always the case ?)
followed by a slash
followed by the word INITIAL (is that always the case ?)
followed by a minus
followed by 5 numbers
followed by a slash
followed by a description (anything that isn't a slash ?)
followed by a slash
followed by 3 letters (always EIC ?)
followed by a semi-colon
followed by 2 letters (always TR ?)
followed by 5 numbers
followed by a slash
followed by 3 letters (always CAT ?)
followed by a semi-colon
followed by a number
followed by 2 slash
There are some parts wich I'm still unsure about, please let me know if I'm right, or provide a correction.
the word CASUALTY (is that always the case ?)
followed by a slash
followed by the word INITIAL (is that always the case ?)
followed by a minus
followed by 5 numbers
followed by a slash
followed by a description (anything that isn't a slash ?)
followed by a slash
followed by 3 letters (always EIC ?)
followed by a semi-colon
followed by 2 letters (always TR ?)
followed by 5 numbers
followed by a slash
followed by 3 letters (always CAT ?)
followed by a semi-colon
followed by a number
followed by 2 slash
There are some parts wich I'm still unsure about, please let me know if I'm right, or provide a correction.
ASKER
Not quite that complicated. There are really two constants here: the string "CASUALTY/" and the next "//" it encounters. I am looking for everything between (including any VbCrLf which was causing the problem) them. More specifically, I want a string that starts with "CASUALTY/" and all the elements before, but not including the "//".
For the record,I use the resulting string as a slash ("/") delimited array for populating an Access table.
For the record,I use the resulting string as a slash ("/") delimited array for populating an Access table.
This should do the job then:
(CASUALTY\/(?:.|[\r\n])*?)\/\/
ASKER
I will try it first thing tomorrow morning at work. Really appreciate your help with this.
ASKER
Most excellent! Gracie mille. I tried to mark the last contribution as the actual "solved" post but was unable too.
Got some reading to do now so I can figure out why yours works.
Thanks again.
Got some reading to do now so I can figure out why yours works.
Thanks again.
Would it be too much to ask to explain what those additional characters mean?