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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

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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