Matching substrings within a Regex

[newjazzharmony]

Hi,

I need some help crafting a regular expression.
Consider the following literal expressions:

Literal String A:
AccountNumber="

Literal String B:
StreetNumber="

I want to find all instances where String A is followed by string B
(with any number of miscellaneous characters in between).

The catch is that I want to capture only instances where the left four
digits of the AccountNumber equals the left four digits of the
StreetNumber.

Examples:

I want to capture the following strings:

AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="11322345"
AccountNumber="234534" blabla StreetNumber="2345999554"

I DO NOT want to capture the following string:

AccountNumber="345635" blabla StreetNumber="6789689"


Thanks!
Jonathan

 

[it_says_BALLS_on_your forehead]

Hi,

I need some help crafting a regular expression.
Consider the following literal expressions:

Literal String A:
AccountNumber="

Literal String B:
StreetNumber="

I want to find all instances where String A is followed by string B
(with any number of miscellaneous characters in between).

The catch is that I want to capture only instances where the left four
digits of the AccountNumber equals the left four digits of the
StreetNumber.

Examples:

I want to capture the following strings:

AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="11322345"
AccountNumber="234534" blabla StreetNumber="2345999554"

I DO NOT want to capture the following string:

AccountNumber="345635" blabla StreetNumber="6789689"

use strict; use warnings;

while ( <DATA> ) {
/AccountNumber="(\d{4}).*StreetNumber="\1/ and print "matched.\n";
}

__DATA__
AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="1322345"

 

[David Squire]

Hi,

I need some help crafting a regular expression.
Consider the following literal expressions:

Literal String A:
AccountNumber="

Literal String B:
StreetNumber="

I want to find all instances where String A is followed by string B
(with any number of miscellaneous characters in between).

The catch is that I want to capture only instances where the left four
digits of the AccountNumber equals the left four digits of the
StreetNumber.

What have you tried so far?

Examples:

I want to capture the following strings:

AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="11322345"
AccountNumber="234534" blabla StreetNumber="2345999554"

I DO NOT want to capture the following string:

AccountNumber="345635" blabla StreetNumber="6789689"

You need to learn about backreferences in regexes. See perldoc perlre.

For example: /([A-Z]).\1/ matches AaA and B2B, but not AaB or B2A.

DS

 

[it_says_BALLS_on_your forehead]

use strict; use warnings;

while ( <DATA> ) {
/AccountNumber="(\d{4}).*StreetNumber="\1/ and print "matched.\n";
}

__DATA__
AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="1322345"

sorry, this illustrates the OP's request more fully.

use strict; use warnings;

while ( <DATA> ) {
/AccountNumber="(\d{4}).*StreetNumber="\1/ and print "matched.\n" or
print "did not match.\n";
}

__DATA__
AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="1322345"
AccountNumber="11324324" blablablablabla StreetNumber="11322345"

__OUTPUT__
did not match.
matched.

 

[newjazzharmony]

Thanks for the replies.
I should have specified that I am not actually using PERL...I just
figured this would be the best place to get expert Regex advice

I was hoping there would be a way to do this without any programmatic
structures (e.g., the while loop in the example).
Is there a way to codify all these rules (including the AcctNum to
StreetNum match) in the regex string itself?

If possible, I would like to do this in a simple text editor that
supports regular expressions.

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[newjazzharmony]

Thanks for the replies.
I should have specified that I am not actually using PERL...I just
figured this would be the best place to get expert Regex advice

I was hoping there would be a way to do this without any programmatic
structures (e.g., the while loop in the example).
Is there a way to codify all these rules (including the AcctNum to
StreetNum match) in the regex string itself?

If possible, I would like to do this in a simple text editor that
supports regular expressions.

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[A. Sinan Unur]

Thanks for the replies.
I should have specified that I am not actually using PERL...I just
figured this would be the best place to get expert Regex advice

**PLONK**

Sinan

 

[DJ Stunks]

**PLONK**

Agreed.

Is today Internet Jackass Day? I must have missed a memo because they
seem to be coming out of the woodwork...

-jp

 

[newjazzharmony]

Is today Internet Jackass Day? I must have missed a memo because they

seem to be coming out of the woodwork...

I'll gladly take the internet jackass lebel if you can answer my
question

 

[David Squire]

I'll gladly take the internet jackass lebel if you can answer my
question

You don't know what *plonk* means do you? See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plonk

.... and if you intend to continue to post here in the hope that some are
still seeing you, read the posting guidelines for this group first and
follow them - starting with properly attributing quoted context.

DS

 

[newjazzharmony]

You don't know what *plonk* means do you?

Plonk, as a disparaging term for cheap wine, especially cheap red wine,
is now widely known in the UK and also to a lesser extent in the USA.
It's so fixed a part of British English that many people are
surprised to hear that it's originally Australian.

 

[David Squire]

Plonk, as a disparaging term for cheap wine, especially cheap red wine,
is now widely known in the UK and also to a lesser extent in the USA.
It's so fixed a part of British English that many people are
surprised to hear that it's originally Australian.

OK. That was your last chance from me.

*plonk*

 

[Tad McClellan]

Thanks for the replies.

Whose replies?

Please quote some context in followups like everybody else does.

I should have specified that I am not actually using PERL...

Making off-topic postings is a quick way to wear out your welcome.

I just
figured this would be the best place to get expert Regex advice

And you have received the expert Regex advice that you sought.

I was hoping there would be a way to do this without any programmatic
structures (e.g., the while loop in the example).

The while loop is only for reading the data.

It is not germane to the regex that you asked for.

Is there a way to codify all these rules (including the AcctNum to
StreetNum match) in the regex string itself?

Yes. And you have already been given that.

So what is the problem again?

If possible, I would like to do this in a simple text editor that
supports regular expressions.

Then you already have everything that you need.

Use the regex that you've been given.

If Perl regexes don't work in your "simple text editor" then
your question is off-topic here in a Perl newsgroup.