View Category
Regex
Matching

Check if a string matches a regular expression

Display "ok" if "Hello" matches /[A-Z][a-z]+/
java
if ("Hello".matches("[A-Z][a-z]+")) {
System.out.println("ok");
}
erlang
String = "Hello", Regexp = "[A-Z][a-z]+",
is_match(String, Regexp) andalso (begin io:format("ok~n"), true end).
case re:run("Hello", "[A-Z][a-z]+") of {match, _} -> ok end.
cpp
if ((gcnew Regex("[A-Z][a-z]+"))->IsMatch("Hello")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
if (Regex::IsMatch("Hello", "[A-Z][a-z]+")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
Regex^ rx = gcnew Regex("[A-Z][a-z]+");
if (rx->IsMatch("Hello")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
cmatch what;
if (regex_match("Hello", what, regex("[A-Z][a-z]+")))
cout << "ok" << endl;
fsharp
if (Regex.IsMatch("Hello", "[A-Z][a-z]+")) then printfn "ok"

Check if a string matches with groups

Display "two" if "one two three" matches /one (.*) three/
java
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("one (.*) three");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("one two three");
if (matcher.matches()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group(1));
}
erlang
case re:run("one two three", "one (.*) three", [{capture, [1], list}]) of {match, Res} -> hd(Res) end.
cpp
Match^ match = Regex::Match("one two three", "one (.*) three");
if (match->Success) Console::WriteLine("{0}", match->Groups[1]->Captures[0]);
cmatch what;
if (regex_match("one two three", what, regex("one (.*) three")))
cout << what[1] << endl;
fsharp
let regmatch = (Regex.Match("one two three", "one (.*) three"))
if regmatch.Success then (printfn "%s" (regmatch.Groups.[1].Captures.[0].ToString()))
Searching

Check if a string contains a match to a regular expression

Display "ok" if "abc 123 @#$" matches /\d+/
java
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\d+");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(text);
if (matcher.find()) {
System.out.println("ok");
}
erlang
% Erlang uses 'egrep'-compatible regular expressions, so shortcuts like '\d' not supported
String = "abc 123 @#$", Regexp = "[0-9]+",
is_match(String, Regexp) andalso (begin io:format("ok~n"), true end).
case re:run("abc 123 @#$", "\\d+") of {match, _} -> ok end.
cpp
if (Regex::IsMatch("abc 123 @#$", "\\d+")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
fsharp
if (Regex.IsMatch("abc 123 @#$", "\\d+")) then printfn "ok"

Loop through a string matching a regex and performing an action for each match

Create a list [fish1,cow3,boat4] when matching "(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4" with regex /\((\w+)\):(\d+)/
java
List list = new ArrayList();
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\((\\w+)\\):(\\d+)");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(text);
while(matcher.find()) {
list.add(matcher.group(1)+matcher.group(2));
}
erlang
solve(S) ->
R = "\\((\\w+?)\\):(\\d+)",
{match, M} = re:run(S,R, [global, {capture, all_but_first, list}]),
[ A++N || [A, N] <- M].
cpp
Match^ match = Regex::Match("(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4", "\\((\\w+)\\):(\\d+)");

while (match->Success)
{
list->Add(match->Groups[1]->Captures[0]->ToString() + match->Groups[2]->Captures[0]->ToString());
match = match->NextMatch();
}
fsharp
let list = new ResizeArray<string>()
let mutable regmatch = (Regex.Match("(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4", "\\((\\w+)\\):(\\d+)"))

while regmatch.Success do
list.Add(regmatch.Groups.[1].Captures.[0].ToString() ^ regmatch.Groups.[2].Captures.[0].ToString())
regmatch <- regmatch.NextMatch()
done

for word in list do printfn "%s" word done
// A solution without mutation:
let results =
Regex.Matches("(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4", "\\((\\w+)\\):(\\d+)")
|> Seq.cast
|> Seq.map (fun (regmatch: Match) ->
regmatch.Groups.[1].Captures.[0].ToString() + regmatch.Groups.[2].Captures.[0].ToString()
)
|> List.ofSeq
Replacing

Replace the first regex match in a string with a static string

Transform "Red Green Blue" into "R*d Green Blue" by replacing /e/ with "*"
java
String replaced = "Red Green Blue".replaceFirst("e", "*");
erlang
{ok, Replaced, _} = regexp:sub("Red Green Blue", "e", "*"),
re:replace("Red Green Blue", "e", "*", [{return, list}]).
cpp
String^ Replaced = (gcnew Regex("e"))->Replace("Red Green Blue", "*", 1);
fsharp
let replaced = ((new Regex("e")).Replace("Red Green Blue", "*", 1))
printfn "%s" replaced

Replace all regex matches in a string with a static string

Transform "She sells sea shells" into "She X X shells" by replacing /se\w+/ with "X"
java
String replaced = text.replaceAll("se\\w+", "X");
erlang
% Erlang uses 'egrep'-compatible regular expressions, so shortcuts like '\w' not supported
{ok, Replaced, _} = regexp:gsub("She sells sea shells", "se[A-Za-z0-9_]+", "X"),
re:replace("She sells sea shells", "se\\w+", "X", [global, {return, list}]).
cpp
String^ Replaced = (gcnew Regex("se\\w+"))->Replace("She sells sea shells", "X");
String^ Replaced = Regex::Replace("She sells sea shells", "se\\w+", "X");
fsharp
let replaced = ((new Regex("se\\w+")).Replace("She sells sea shells", "X"))
printfn "%s" replaced

Replace all regex matches in a string with a dynamic string

Transform "The {Quick} Brown {Fox}" into "The kciuQ Brown xoF" by reversing words in braces using the regex /\{(\w+)\}/.
java
Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\{(\\w+)\\}").matcher("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}");
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(32), rsb = new StringBuffer(8);

while (m.find())
{
rsb.replace(0, rsb.length(), m.group(1)); rsb.reverse(); m.appendReplacement(sb, rsb.toString());
}
m.appendTail(sb);
erlang
% Erlang regular expressions lack both group capture and backreferences, thus this problem is not directly
% solvable. Presented solution is close, but not on-spec

String = "The {Quick} Brown {Fox}",
{match, FieldList} = regexp:matches(String, "\{([A-Za-z0-9_]+)\}"),

NewString = lists:foldl(fun ({Start, Length}, S) -> replstr(S, lists:reverse(string:substr(S, Start, Length)), Start) end, String, FieldList),
cpp
String^ Replaced = (gcnew Regex("{(\\w+)}"))->Replace("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}", gcnew MatchEvaluator(&RegRep::RepGroup));
String^ Replaced = Regex::Replace("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}", "{(\\w+)}", gcnew MatchEvaluator(&RegRep::RepGroup));
fsharp
open System
open System.Text.RegularExpressions
let reverseMatch (m:Match) =
String(m.Groups.[1].Value.ToCharArray() |> Array.rev)
let output = Regex.Replace("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}", @"\{(\w+)\}", reverseMatch)