how do I match & in and url exactly without messing xml entities using regex

Question

I just want to match & in the url but not the xml entities like &< etc.

<a href="/test/test2">Contact Us</a>
<a href="http://www.testassociation.com/test.html?ab=5&cd=5&ab=c" target="_blank">Customer Association</a>&amp;

I want to replace the & with & but not disturb the other entities.

Sorry I am not getting idea how to do it.

I tried this:

(&)([a-z][^;]*)

Is there a better way.

Have you tried [using a parser](http://stackoverflow.com/a/1732454/507674) instead? — Niet the Dark Absol, Sep 01 '14 at 11:30
Your URL should be using `&` anyway, otherwise some version of IE have a tendency to mess things up for you(try this as a URL part: `&section=doesnt_work` on IE7). — scragar, Sep 01 '14 at 11:30

vks · Answer 1 · 2014-09-01T11:50:46.373

1

(?!&amp|&lt)&

You can use something like this.You will have to list all &amp like words you want to miss.I have listed two.

See demo.

Edit

&(?=\w\w=)

use this if you dont want to list all.

edited Sep 01 '14 at 11:50

answered Sep 01 '14 at 11:39

vks

That was just an example that & <...actually I need to ignore all xml entities not only these – Susheel Singh Sep 01 '14 at 11:42
You can add all you want to you want to miss by appending to that list.How else will regex know what it has to miss – vks Sep 01 '14 at 11:43
you can add further by |&others like this. – vks Sep 01 '14 at 11:43
but that is cumbersome...can't we compare all the entities in one shot – Susheel Singh Sep 01 '14 at 11:44
will & be always of form &ab= ? – vks Sep 01 '14 at 11:47
try using this &(?=\w\w=) – vks Sep 01 '14 at 11:48

Oscar Hermosilla · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-01T14:38:49.300

The only way to be completely accurate is like @vks says including all the list of entities.

If you don't need to be so accurate, and having the longest entity &thetasym; with 8 characters you can use negative lookahead:

(?!&\w{1,8};)&

Taking in mind that you will also miss everything with the form &dffa; even if it is not a valid entity

2 Answers2