Strange RegEx fix that seems unnecessary

[GPinzone]

I wrote a program to convert single and double quotes to curly single and double quotes. The program uses regular expression search and replaces to swap the straight quotes to their curly counterparts and to ignore any HTML tags, too.

#include <ButtonConstants.au3>
#include <EditConstants.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <FontConstants.au3>

Func Curlify($sInput)
    Local $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sInput, "'(?!([^<]+)?>)", "’")
    $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, "((^|\s+)(<[^>]*>)*)’", "${1}‘")
    $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, '"(?!([^<]+)?>)', "”")
    $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, "((^|\s+)(<[^>]*>)*)”", "${1}“")
    ; Fix nested quotes
    While StringRegExp($sOutput, "(‘|“)(<[^>]*>)*(’|”)")
        $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, "((‘|“)(<[^>]*>)*)’", "${1}‘")
        $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, "((‘|“)(<[^>]*>)*)”", "${1}“")
    WEnd

    Return $sOutput
EndFunc   ;==>Curlify

$FormCurly = GUICreate("Form_Curly", 708, 439, 192, 124)
$Original = GUICtrlCreateEdit("", 0, 0, 305, 433)
GUICtrlSetFont(-1, 9, $FW_NORMAL, 0, "Courier New") ; Set the font of the previous control.
GUICtrlSetLimit(-1, 1500000)
$Modified = GUICtrlCreateEdit("", 408, 0, 297, 433)
GUICtrlSetFont(-1, 9, $FW_NORMAL, 0, "Courier New") ; Set the font of the previous control.
GUICtrlSetLimit(-1, 1500000)
$Curly = GUICtrlCreateButton("Curly", 320, 64, 75, 25)
$Reset = GUICtrlCreateButton("Reset", 320, 164, 75, 25)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

While 1
    $nMsg = GUIGetMsg()
    Switch $nMsg
        Case $Curly
            GUICtrlSetData($Modified, Curlify(GUICtrlRead($Original)))

        Case $Reset
            GUICtrlSetData($Original, "")
            GUICtrlSetData($Modified, "")

        Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            Exit

    EndSwitch
WEnd

 

So why am I posting a question about a program that works?  This regex:

    $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, "((^|\s+)(<[^>]*>)*)’", "${1}‘")

should be able to be rewritten without the "+":

    $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sOutput, "((^|\s)(<[^>]*>)*)’", "${1}‘")

Same goes for the one to do double quotes, obviously.

However, if I remove the "+" from the "\s" in the regex, the program will fail in some cases. Something like <b>’<i>Don’t</i>’</b> at the beginning of a line won't get fixed. I suspect it's got something to do with the fact the the previous character (aside from the HTML tags) is a newline. The "\s" should work just fine with newlines. I'm stumped because the regex without the "+" modifier works fine on http://www.regextester.com/ when I test it.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2015 by GPinzone

[guinness]

62 posts in the forum should mean you have an understanding of how to post code.

[GPinzone]

OCD is a terrible mental issue.

[iamtheky]

it may be my ocd, but i would expect examples of where this succeeds and fails.  And if recent history is any indicator,  I would then expect the thread to grow and carry on with edge cases not mentioned in those examples while a battle for regex supremacy runs wild.

 

*and put your stuff in code tags, its for legibility purposes and consideration of the people you want to help you.  its not ocd its just your ugly ass word wall.

Edited August 6, 2015 by boththose

[mikell]

And if recent history is any indicator,  I would then expect the thread to grow and carry on with edge cases not mentioned in those examples while a battle for regex supremacy runs wild.

Well, who knows... 

[guinness]

OCD is a terrible mental issue.

With comments like that, it's pretty clear you won't be around the forum for very long.

Edited August 6, 2015 by guinness

[GPinzone]

it may be my ocd, but i would expect examples of where this succeeds and fails.

I did:

Something like <b>’<i>Don’t</i>’</b> at the beginning of a line won't get fixed.