Regular expression for XML element with arbitrary attribute value

Question

I'm not very confortable with RegEx.

I have a text file with a lot of data and different formats. I want to keep this kind of string.

<data name=\"myProptertyValue\" xml:space=\"preserve\">

Only the value of the name property can change.

So I imagined a regex like this <data name=\\\"(.)\\\" xml:space=\\\"preserve\\\"> but it's not working.

Any tips?

Where do you use the expression? What language/tool? Are you sure there are slashes present in the string? Surely . is a bad idea, at least you should have tried [^"]*. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 9:17
@BECRoland Don't parse XML with regex. Use an XML parser instead. — Biffen
– Biffen, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 9:18
<data name=\\\"(.)\\\" xml:space=\\\"preserve\\\"> is wrong try out the answer — Raghavendra
– Raghavendra, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 9:20

Raghavendra · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-08 09:46:59Z

1

try this

<data name=\\".*?\\" xml:space=\\"preserve\\">

no need to add \ to "

edited Jul 8, 2015 at 9:46

answered Jul 8, 2015 at 9:18

Raghavendra

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Comments

dakab · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-08 10:43:33Z

0

Your (.) will capture only a single character; add a quantifier like + (“one or more”):

/<data name=\\"(.+)\\" xml:space=\\"preserve\\">/

Depending on what exactly your input is (element by element or entire document) and on what you want to achieve (removing/replacing/testing/capturing), you should make the regex global (by adding the g flag), so it is applied not only once. Also, you should make the + quantifier lazy by adding a ? to it. That will make it non-greedy, because you want capturing to stop at the ending quote of the attribute (like all but quotation mark: [^"]). Then, it will look like this:

/<data name=\\"(.+?)\\" xml:space=\\"preserve\\">/g

edited Jul 8, 2015 at 10:43

answered Jul 8, 2015 at 9:18

dakab

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2 Comments

dakab Over a year ago

The OP did not specify the exact circumstances of his appliance (whether it’s a single element or an entire document). The actual issue was the missing quantifier. I made a complementary edit.

Raghavendra Over a year ago

safe way always use "?" in these type of cases.

lu.d · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-08 09:23:10Z

0

<data name=\\"(.+)\\" xml:space=\\"preserve\\">

It will catch what's inside "data name".

If you're having trouble with regex, using this kind of sites to construct your regex can help you : https://regex101.com/ , http://regexr.com/ etc.

answered Jul 8, 2015 at 9:23

lu.d

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2 Comments

lu.d Over a year ago

he did not state clearly the structure of his text file, it's up to him to choose the flag accordingly. so, please don't harass people who are doing their best to help with your answer, thanks

Raghavendra Over a year ago

i am also trying to help. if you we have different elements it will fetch wrong nodes also. that why i informed. i will delete my prpevious comment. may be my English is not good.

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