I
inpuarg
I want to find a & character using Regex. But not &&
How can i manage this in c# Quickfind window ?
How can i manage this in c# Quickfind window ?
D
Dave Sexton
Hi,
Then just use a single "&".
"&" isn't a special character in Regular Expressions.
Then just use a single "&".
"&" isn't a special character in Regular Expressions.
I
inpuarg
ok. ut the problem is , when i 've searched for & character it finds
me every && chatacters also. and i 'm not interested in with this.
There are millions of in logical operations. i 'm interested in with
single & .
me every && chatacters also. and i 'm not interested in with this.
There are millions of in logical operations. i 'm interested in with
single & .
D
Dave Sexton
Hi,
Sorry - I misunderstood.
I don't think that's possible though. There doesn't appear to be any
negative look-ahead assertion in VS 2005's version of Regex:
"Regular Expressions (Visual Studio)"
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2k3te2cs(VS.80).aspx
Sorry - I misunderstood.
I don't think that's possible though. There doesn't appear to be any
negative look-ahead assertion in VS 2005's version of Regex:
"Regular Expressions (Visual Studio)"
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2k3te2cs(VS.80).aspx
L
Lee
The following untested RegExp might work:
[~&]&[~&]
It should find an & that is neither preceded nor followed by an &.
[~&]&[~&]
It should find an & that is neither preceded nor followed by an &.
D
Dave Sexton
Hi Lee,
Good idea (incorrect syntax though). Based off that pattern I got this to
work:
&~([&:b])
However, it will match the last "&" in "&&" when it's not immediately
followed by a space or tab. In other words, the pattern matches "&", and
the last "&" in "&&", but not, "&& ".
I thought it might be acceptable since it's common for && to be followed by
at least one space in code. If you can't guarantee that, then the pattern
will not work for you.
Just FYI,
[^&]&[^&] and ~(&)&~(&)
didn't work for me, unfortunately.
HTH
--
Dave Sexton
The following untested RegExp might work:
[~&]&[~&]
It should find an & that is neither preceded nor followed by an &.
Good idea (incorrect syntax though). Based off that pattern I got this to
work:
&~([&:b])
However, it will match the last "&" in "&&" when it's not immediately
followed by a space or tab. In other words, the pattern matches "&", and
the last "&" in "&&", but not, "&& ".
I thought it might be acceptable since it's common for && to be followed by
at least one space in code. If you can't guarantee that, then the pattern
will not work for you.
Just FYI,
[^&]&[^&] and ~(&)&~(&)
didn't work for me, unfortunately.
HTH
--
Dave Sexton
The following untested RegExp might work:
[~&]&[~&]
It should find an & that is neither preceded nor followed by an &.
L
Lee
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:
D
Dave Sexton
Hi Lee,
I'm suprised that works for you. I'm using VS 2005 as well and it doesn't
work for me. Actually, both of the examples that didn't work for me matched
absolutely nothing at all - not even a single "&".
I just tested it again. When I tested it the first time I just typed &'s
and &&'s (and some with trailing spaces) along the left margin of an empty
document, one per line. Apparently, [^&]&[^&] only works if there is some
combination of characters before the "&", even if it's whitespace, but it
doesn't just match "&" it makes the whitespace around it as well.
So, for instance, the resulting match would be " & ", not "&".
Also, it's kinda buggy. If I enter "&" along the left margin it doesn't
match. Then, if I insert whitespace before it, other than &'s, it still
doesn't match! I have to delete it and enter some strange combination of
tabs, spaces and characters before it first, then type &, and then it will
match. But even that doesn't work every time, although it seems to find " &
" in "if ((0 & 1) == 0)" with no problem
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
I'm suprised that works for you. I'm using VS 2005 as well and it doesn't
work for me. Actually, both of the examples that didn't work for me matched
absolutely nothing at all - not even a single "&".
I just tested it again. When I tested it the first time I just typed &'s
and &&'s (and some with trailing spaces) along the left margin of an empty
document, one per line. Apparently, [^&]&[^&] only works if there is some
combination of characters before the "&", even if it's whitespace, but it
doesn't just match "&" it makes the whitespace around it as well.
So, for instance, the resulting match would be " & ", not "&".
Also, it's kinda buggy. If I enter "&" along the left margin it doesn't
match. Then, if I insert whitespace before it, other than &'s, it still
doesn't match! I have to delete it and enter some strange combination of
tabs, spaces and characters before it first, then type &, and then it will
match. But even that doesn't work every time, although it seems to find " &
" in "if ((0 & 1) == 0)" with no problem
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:
L
Lee
Dave:
My RE will not find a single & that is in the left or right margin --
but in dealing with realistically entered code, the chances of one in
the left margin I think are nil; and as the right-most character only
marginally bigger.
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
My RE will not find a single & that is in the left or right margin --
but in dealing with realistically entered code, the chances of one in
the left margin I think are nil; and as the right-most character only
marginally bigger.
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:Hi Lee,
I'm suprised that works for you. I'm using VS 2005 as well and it doesn't
work for me. Actually, both of the examples that didn't work for me matched
absolutely nothing at all - not even a single "&".
I just tested it again. When I tested it the first time I just typed &'s
and &&'s (and some with trailing spaces) along the left margin of an empty
document, one per line. Apparently, [^&]&[^&] only works if there is some
combination of characters before the "&", even if it's whitespace, but it
doesn't just match "&" it makes the whitespace around it as well.
So, for instance, the resulting match would be " & ", not "&".
Also, it's kinda buggy. If I enter "&" along the left margin it doesn't
match. Then, if I insert whitespace before it, other than &'s, it still
doesn't match! I have to delete it and enter some strange combination of
tabs, spaces and characters before it first, then type &, and then it will
match. But even that doesn't work every time, although it seems to find " &
" in "if ((0 & 1) == 0)" with no problem
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:
D
Dave Sexton
Hi Lee,
Actually, I wrote that it was matching " & " - and that it was a problem.
But your addendum will probably work.
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
My RE will not find a single & that is in the left or right margin --
but in dealing with realistically entered code, the chances of one in
the left margin I think are nil; and as the right-most character only
marginally bigger.
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Actually, I wrote that it was matching " & " - and that it was a problem.
But your addendum will probably work.
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
My RE will not find a single & that is in the left or right margin --
but in dealing with realistically entered code, the chances of one in
the left margin I think are nil; and as the right-most character only
marginally bigger.
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:Hi Lee,
I'm suprised that works for you. I'm using VS 2005 as well and it doesn't
work for me. Actually, both of the examples that didn't work for me
matched
absolutely nothing at all - not even a single "&".
I just tested it again. When I tested it the first time I just typed &'s
and &&'s (and some with trailing spaces) along the left margin of an empty
document, one per line. Apparently, [^&]&[^&] only works if there is some
combination of characters before the "&", even if it's whitespace, but it
doesn't just match "&" it makes the whitespace around it as well.
So, for instance, the resulting match would be " & ", not "&".
Also, it's kinda buggy. If I enter "&" along the left margin it doesn't
match. Then, if I insert whitespace before it, other than &'s, it still
doesn't match! I have to delete it and enter some strange combination of
tabs, spaces and characters before it first, then type &, and then it will
match. But even that doesn't work every time, although it seems to find "
&
" in "if ((0 & 1) == 0)" with no problem
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:
I
inpuarg
Dear friends.
Thanks for insteresting and your helps. but noone seems working yet.
Strange. I thought this would be more easy
Let me change the question then :
I am exactly trying to find a single & character between " signs.
for instance : "asd & asasd" , "asd &" "asd& asasd" "asd&asasd"
But i don 't want to find && as logical And sign.
Thanks for insteresting and your helps. but noone seems working yet.
Strange. I thought this would be more easy
Let me change the question then :
I am exactly trying to find a single & character between " signs.
for instance : "asd & asasd" , "asd &" "asd& asasd" "asd&asasd"
But i don 't want to find && as logical And sign.
I
inpuarg
I read the entire topic again and it seems like [^&]&[^&] is enough
for me. Thanks for your helps.
for me. Thanks for your helps.
D
Dave Sexton
Hi Lee,
I just realized something, upon reading your comment again:
string value = @"
&
& &
& & & &";
The above is valid code that won't produce any matches. Given that the OP
is searching strings, it's possible, although unlikely that it will exist.
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
I just realized something, upon reading your comment again:
string value = @"
&
& &
& & & &";
The above is valid code that won't produce any matches. Given that the OP
is searching strings, it's possible, although unlikely that it will exist.
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:Hi Lee,
I'm suprised that works for you. I'm using VS 2005 as well and it doesn't
work for me. Actually, both of the examples that didn't work for me
matched
absolutely nothing at all - not even a single "&".
I just tested it again. When I tested it the first time I just typed &'s
and &&'s (and some with trailing spaces) along the left margin of an empty
document, one per line. Apparently, [^&]&[^&] only works if there is some
combination of characters before the "&", even if it's whitespace, but it
doesn't just match "&" it makes the whitespace around it as well.
So, for instance, the resulting match would be " & ", not "&".
Also, it's kinda buggy. If I enter "&" along the left margin it doesn't
match. Then, if I insert whitespace before it, other than &'s, it still
doesn't match! I have to delete it and enter some strange combination of
tabs, spaces and characters before it first, then type &, and then it will
match. But even that doesn't work every time, although it seems to find "
&
" in "if ((0 & 1) == 0)" with no problem
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:
L
Lee
Dave:
Based on the OP's original message -- and his latest follow-up -- it
looks like he's looking for the bit-wise & operator without also
finding the logical && operator and not really searching strings. My RE
is based on that assumption.
As for your example, the RE should find no hits on the first 2 lines
(with &'s) and 4 hits on the last line (on my system it found the 4
hits).
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Based on the OP's original message -- and his latest follow-up -- it
looks like he's looking for the bit-wise & operator without also
finding the logical && operator and not really searching strings. My RE
is based on that assumption.
As for your example, the RE should find no hits on the first 2 lines
(with &'s) and 4 hits on the last line (on my system it found the 4
hits).
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:Hi Lee,
I just realized something, upon reading your comment again:
string value = @"
&
& &
& & & &";
The above is valid code that won't produce any matches. Given that the OP
is searching strings, it's possible, although unlikely that it will exist.
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't match the string "
& " -- it should match any & preceded and followed by a non-&. OTOH, as
you say, the match will hi-light 3 characters because the RE matches 3
characters. For just doing a search, hi-lighting 3 characters should
not be a problem; and even if doing a Replace, specifying \1 and \2 in
the replacment string (and enclosing each [^&] in the RE in braces
thusly {[^&]}) would be no problem.
On the real code against which I ran the RE it found all single &'s and
skipped all &&'s.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:Hi Lee,
I'm suprised that works for you. I'm using VS 2005 as well and it doesn't
work for me. Actually, both of the examples that didn't work for me
matched
absolutely nothing at all - not even a single "&".
I just tested it again. When I tested it the first time I just typed &'s
and &&'s (and some with trailing spaces) along the left margin of an empty
document, one per line. Apparently, [^&]&[^&] only works if there is some
combination of characters before the "&", even if it's whitespace, but it
doesn't just match "&" it makes the whitespace around it as well.
So, for instance, the resulting match would be " & ", not "&".
Also, it's kinda buggy. If I enter "&" along the left margin it doesn't
match. Then, if I insert whitespace before it, other than &'s, it still
doesn't match! I have to delete it and enter some strange combination of
tabs, spaces and characters before it first, then type &, and then it will
match. But even that doesn't work every time, although it seems to find "
&
" in "if ((0 & 1) == 0)" with no problem
--
Dave Sexton
Dave:
Yeah, on the syntax, ~ should have been ^ -- that's what I get for
posting un-tested code.
OTOH, I just tried [^&]&[^&] and it works as advertised -- it finds &'s
that are not also &&'s. This works in VS 2005; but I don't know about
VS2003.
Based on what the OP wanted, I would probably modify the RE to
[^&]&[^=&] in order to bypass the &= operator.
--
// Lee Silver
// Information Concepts Inc.
Dave said:
D
Dave Sexton
Hi Lee,
Not that it really matters at this point, but the OP clearly stated, "I am
exactly trying to find a single & character between " signs".
Yes, because my example certainly doesn't do what the OP wanted
Your example has always been closer, but not perfect. If I've implied that
I thought my example was better, that wasn't my intention here. My
intention was to get a working expression out of our conversation.
Regardless, it looks like that OP was satisfied with [^&]&[^&].
BTW, for some unknown reason my newsreader (OE) isn't prefixing your posts
with ">" automatically when I reply to them, which is very strange - I've
never seen that happen before. You might want to check out your settings to
see if it's something on your end of things. If you need to test something
out I'll be glad to help by responding to your posts here.
Not that it really matters at this point, but the OP clearly stated, "I am
exactly trying to find a single & character between " signs".
Yes, because my example certainly doesn't do what the OP wanted
Your example has always been closer, but not perfect. If I've implied that
I thought my example was better, that wasn't my intention here. My
intention was to get a working expression out of our conversation.
Regardless, it looks like that OP was satisfied with [^&]&[^&].
BTW, for some unknown reason my newsreader (OE) isn't prefixing your posts
with ">" automatically when I reply to them, which is very strange - I've
never seen that happen before. You might want to check out your settings to
see if it's something on your end of things. If you need to test something
out I'll be glad to help by responding to your posts here.