AutoIt Requires Chilkat v11.1.0+

Regular Expression with Named Capture Groups

See more Regular Expressions Examples

Demonstrates regular expressions with named capture groups.

See the sample code below.

Note: Chilkat uses PCRE2. See PCRE2 Regular Expressions
Also see: PCRE2 Performance

In PCRE2, named capture groups allow you to assign a name to a capturing group, making it easier to reference by name instead of number.

Syntax

(?<name>pattern)

or

(?'name'pattern)

Example

(?<first>\w+)\s+(?<last>\w+)

Applied to:

"John Smith"

Produces:

• first: John
• last: Smith

AutoIt

Local $bSuccess = False

Local $subject = "John Smith"
Local $sPattern = "(?<first>\w+)\s+(?<last>\w+)"

$oSb = ObjCreate("Chilkat.StringBuilder")
$oSb.Append($subject)

$oJson = ObjCreate("Chilkat.JsonObject")
$oJson.EmitCompact = False

Local $iTimeoutMs = 2000
Local $iNumMatches = $oSb.RegexMatch($sPattern,$oJson,$iTimeoutMs)
If ($iNumMatches < 0) Then
    ;  Probably an error in the regular expression.
    ;  Suggestion: Use AI to help create and/or diagnose regular expressions.
    ConsoleWrite($oSb.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

;  Examine the matches:
ConsoleWrite($oJson.Emit() & @CRLF)

;  Here is the JSON showing the matches.
;  Important:  Capture group 0 always contains the entire match — that is, the portion of the input string that matches the full regular expression.

;  {
;    "named": {
;      "first": 1,
;      "last": 2
;    },
;    "match": [
;      {
;        "group": [
;          {
;            "cap": "John Smith",
;            "idx": 0,
;            "len": 10
;          },
;          {
;            "cap": "John",
;            "idx": 0,
;            "len": 4
;          },
;          {
;            "cap": "Smith",
;            "idx": 5,
;            "len": 5
;          }
;        ]
;      }
;    ]
;  }

;  The capture group index is obtained by looking up the name in the JSON result.
;  For example:

$oJson.I = $oJson.IntOf("named.first")
ConsoleWrite("first: " & $oJson.StringOf("match[0].group[i].cap") & @CRLF)

$oJson.I = $oJson.IntOf("named.last")
ConsoleWrite("last: " & $oJson.StringOf("match[0].group[i].cap") & @CRLF)

;  Output is: 

;  first: John
;  last: Smith