javascript regex to match everything between 2 html comment tags

Question

I have to create a regex which will match anything (including line breaks) between 2 html specific comment tags. Here is an example for some html:

<!-- build-remove-start -->
<!-- bower:js -->
<script src="../bower_components/jquery/dist/jquery.js"></script>
<!-- endbower -->
<!-- build-remove-end -->

<!-- inject:vendor:js -->
<!-- endinject -->

I would like to match every thing between  and  not including the comment tags (I mean not to remove the comments tags, only what's inside).
I have tried:
[\s\S]
But it doesn't work. Here is a link to test the regex:
https://regex101.com/r/rV0qG2/2

might i suggest actually using the DOM, which can iterate over comment nodes? — Eevee
– Eevee, Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 18:48

Marcos Casagrande · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-14 19:08:18Z

5

You need to add * after [\s\S].

/<!-- build-remove-start -->([\s\S]*?)<!-- build-remove-end -->/gmi

Also I recommend adding ? after * so it makes it lazy. This way you can have the example below, othwerise the this won't be removed line will be matched.

<!-- build-remove-start -->
//remove this
<!-- build-remove-end -->

This won't be removed

<!-- build-remove-start -->
//Remove this
<!-- build-remove-end -->

edited Nov 14, 2015 at 19:08

answered Nov 14, 2015 at 18:41

Marcos Casagrande

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9 Comments

vlio20 Over a year ago

doesn't this includes the comments tag?

Alexander O'Mara Over a year ago

Why the capture group?

Marcos Casagrande Over a year ago

You only need to replace what's inside the capture group, and not the whole match.

vlio20 Over a year ago

@MarcosCasagrande, it seems that the comments are also falls to the matching pattern, I need it to be excluded. Here is a demo of your answer regex101.com/r/rV0qG2/4

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

[\s\S]*? will inevitably drain the backtracking buffer limit with large HTML code and the code execution will freeze. Use the regex in my comment if you want to have the same effect but avoid backtracking issues.

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