Regex to match XML Group

Question

Just as a disclaimer, I just want to do this to make my life easier when reading logs.. Sometimes they have more than 100mb of text

I want to match a XML Group in which it contains some data.

Suppose I have a XML like below (and they are in the same line):

<car><id>1</id><acquiredDate>23-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>
<car><id>2</id><acquiredDate>23-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>
<car><id>3</id><acquiredDate>24-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>
<car><id>4</id><acquiredDate>23-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>

I want to match all cars that have were acquired on 23-09-2016. (3 matches on this case)

What I have so far is <car>.*?<acquiredDate>23-09-2016<\/acquiredDate>.*?<\/car>, but it will match the third and fourth car together. Something like:

<car><id>1</id><acquiredDate>23-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>

<car><id>2</id><acquiredDate>23-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>

<car><id>3</id><acquiredDate>24-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car><car><id>4</id><acquiredDate>23-09-2016</acquiredDate><model>BMW</model></car>

I tried using something like <car>(?!.*<car>.*).*?<acquiredDate>23-09-2016<\/acquiredDate>.*?<\/car> but it will match only the last.

How I achieve that?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags — SierraOscar, Sep 23 '16 at 22:14
please read my disclaimer. as the second answer says `it's sometimes appropriate to parse a limited, known set of HTML`. that's what I want — Felipe S., Sep 23 '16 at 22:16
`.*?` Why do you use `.*?` between the tags when your example shows nothing in-between them? — Jesse Good, Sep 23 '16 at 22:18
sorry about that @JesseGood.. the real case has data between.. let me update the question — Felipe S., Sep 23 '16 at 22:19
@FelipeS. I read your disclaimer - it's still easier to use a DOM method like `getElementsByTagName('acquiredDate')` and read the `innerHTML` property. — SierraOscar, Sep 23 '16 at 22:20
@MacroMan I'm using just to search data.. how do I use `getElementsByTagName` in `less`, `grep` or something similar ? :/ — Felipe S., Sep 23 '16 at 22:22
But can you use lookarounds at least? I see you are using it, just to confirm. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Sep 23 '16 at 22:22
@WiktorStribiżew lookarounds would be fine! I just couldn't make it work properly.. — Felipe S., Sep 23 '16 at 22:24
It is a bit strange, since [your regex works](https://regex101.com/r/jK0xM0/1) if the `.` does not match a newline and the strings are on separate lines. If I use a dotall modifier, I get [the same behavior](https://regex101.com/r/jK0xM0/2) you describe. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Sep 23 '16 at 22:26
Ok, I'd suggest [`(?:(?!).)*23-09-2016.*?`](https://regex101.com/r/jK0xM0/3) — Wiktor Stribiżew, Sep 23 '16 at 22:28
@WiktorStribiżew would you know how to fix my regex using dotall modifier? — Felipe S., Sep 23 '16 at 22:28
Yeah, I posted my suggestion above. But MacroMan's pattern might work as well with your data. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Sep 23 '16 at 22:29

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 23 '16 at 22:26

1

If you really want to go down the regex-matching-html route, then assuming you want to match the whole line, something like this would work:

/(?:^\<car\>[<\w>\/]+acquiredDate\>)(23\-09\-2016)(?:.+$)/gm
                                     ^^  ^^  ^^^^ 
                                 (change as required)

answered Sep 23 '16 at 22:26

SierraOscar

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This is exactly the match I needed! Sorry for being insistent in the regex thing.. It's because I'll use to find some text in a giant log. Now I can find my bugs !! thanks! – Felipe S. Sep 23 '16 at 22:36
1

@FelipeS. just to be clear, I'm not preaching about _not using regex_ (notice I didn't downvote your question - it's a perfectly good and valid question to ask) it's just that using a parser can make life easier. Ultimately whatever works for you is the right way so it's your preference. – SierraOscar Sep 23 '16 at 22:41

Regex to match XML Group

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