java - Regex to split a string containing multiple groups

Question

I need to split this string

(2005)[1]1,2,3,4[2]1(2008)[2]2–;3,4(2009)[3]1,2,3-4(2010)[4]1,2,3-4(2011)[5]1(2012)[5]2,3-4[6]1,2\[\](2014)[6]3-4[7]1-2(2015)[7]3-4[8]1-2(2016)[10]1[8]3-4[9]1-2,3-4(2017)[10]2

As:

1, "1,2,3,4"  
2, 1 2
2, 2–;3,4

For the input "(2005)[1]1,2,3,4" I need value in [ ] in capture group 1 and the rest of the string (1,2,3,4) in capture group 2 and repeat for the entire string

I have created this regex string but it is not working as intended

\[(.*?)\](.+?)(?=\[|\(|$)

Please see my regex implementation

The problem is when there is nothing after [] it is capturing (year) which it should not do

Try \[([^\]\[]*)\]([^\[(]*). Also, you might as well replace .+? with .*? in your pattern. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Oct 27, 2017 at 13:40
I have created a regex101 fiddle, but can't make head or tails of what you mean now. Please provide exact output for each test case. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Oct 27, 2017 at 19:55
so for the first example in test case i want to parse the data to generate this output "2015","5","1" \n "2015","3","22,23,24" \n "2015","8","1,2,3" — Aamir Shah
– Aamir Shah, Commented Oct 27, 2017 at 20:11

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-27 13:46:54Z

2

The (.+?)(?=\[|\(|$) part of the pattern matches any 1 or more chars other than a newline up to the leftmost [, ( or end of string. You need to allow matching zero or more chars here.

However, a [^\[(] negated character class here will be more efficient and elegant:

\[(.*?)\]([^\[(]*)

See this regex demo.

Or a bit more efficient,

\[([^\]\[]*)\]([^\[(]*)

See another regex demo.

Details

\[ - a [
([^\]\[]*) - Group 1: any 0+ chars other than [ and ]
\] - a ]
([^\[(]*) - Group 2: any 0+ chars other than [ and (.

answered Oct 27, 2017 at 13:46

Wiktor Stribiżew

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6 Comments

Aamir Shah Over a year ago

it is working fine for most of the values but in case of (2005) [1]1,2,3,4[2]1(2008)[2]2–;3,4(2009)[3]1,2,3-4(2010)[4]1,2,3-4(2011)[5]1(2012)[5]2,3-4[6]1,2[](2014)[6]3-4[7]1-2(2015)[7]3-4[8]1-2(2016)[10]1[8]3-4[9]1-2,3-4(2017)[10]2(2011)[40](1-4)(2012)[41]0(2013)[42]1-4(2014)[43]0(2015)[44]1-4,1-2(2017)[46] it is not picking up (1-4) can you help with that please?

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

Replace [^\[(]* with [^\[(]*(?:$\d+-\d+$[^\[(]*)* or a more generic [^\[(]*(?:$(?!\d{4}$)[^()]*\)[^\[(]*)*. It would be better if you could explain what kibd of value you expect after the number in brackets. Note I'm on a mobile now and cannot check if my pattern works well or not.

Aamir Shah Over a year ago

so i expect a- year or empty brckts b- anythinghere or empty brckts c- somethinghere. The format can be any of the below (a)[b]c (a)[b]c[b]c[b]c (a)[b]c(a)[b]c[b]c (a)[b](a)[b]c[b]c

Aamir Shah Over a year ago

I have updated the question with the possible format. I need to split the string so i can match it as group1 -> year, group2 -> val in [ ], group3 -> comma seperated values

Aamir Shah Over a year ago

can you please update the expression so it can capture 1- anything in ( ), 2 - anything in [ ] 3- comma seperated values after [ ]

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