Regular Expression Help

[Teldin]

How would I write an expression that reads the first 2 words of a sentence? I would also like to stop at a certain word "STOP" if it's one of the first two.

For example:

"this sentence is a test"

the regex would grab "this sentence"

but

"now stop at the second word"

would only get "now" as stop is the word to stop at.

Thanks in advance.

[SmOke_N]

How would I write an expression that reads the first 2 words of a sentence? I would also like to stop at a certain word "STOP" if it's one of the first two.

For example:

"this sentence is a test"

the regex would grab "this sentence"

but

"now stop at the second word"

would only get "now" as stop is the word to stop at.

Thanks in advance.

Well ... here's a silly question. Are you asking about this because you understand Regular Expressions a bit, but are confused on how to find the first 2 words of a sentence. Or are you only wanting someone to give you the answer so you don't have to try it on your own? I ask this, because I see no attempts on your behalf to even try to use StringRegExp().

Here's a helpful site:

http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html#Regular-Expressions

I've also (recently) posted in a Reg Exp here on how to find each word of a string. No idea where it is, but if you don't want to learn... you could always track it down .

[Teldin]

Yes I have read that and these from my favorites:

http://regexlib.com/CheatSheet.aspx

http://www.javascriptkit.com/jsref/regexp.shtml

http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/regextutorial.asp

I have tried to figure it out but having a hard time so I post here for help.

I have downloaded Expresso, Waterproof, Sells Bothers, the forums' own StringRegExp GUI, and several other RegEx apps to learn RegEx but it's a foreign language.

I was able to grab the first word but not the first two nor could I mange to stop at a certian word.

Right now I have:

$Pla = StringRegExp(GUICtrlRead($Input), "(?im)(^..........)", 3 )

which grabs the first 10 chars of a string but does not achieve exactly what I want.

[SmOke_N]

#include <array.au3>
$sString = "What are the words of this question?"
$aArray = StringRegExp($sString, "[\s\.:;,]*([a-zA-Z0-9-_]+)[\s\.:;,]*", 3)
_ArrayDisplay($aArray, '')

[MrCreatoR]

You want to do this only using RegExp? you can do it without using it:

$String = "test test1 test2... test3"

$TwoWords = _GetWords($String, 2)

MsgBox(0, "", $TwoWords)

Func _GetWords($String, $WordsCount)
    If Not StringInStr($String, " ") Or Not IsNumber($WordsCount) Then Return $String
    Local $Arr = StringSplit($String, " ", 1), $Ret, $i
    If $Arr[0] >= $WordsCount Then
        For $i = 1 To $WordsCount
            $Ret &= " " & $Arr[$i]
        Next
        Return $Ret
    Else
        Return $String
    EndIf
EndFunc

Edited February 21, 2007 by MsCreatoR

[SmOke_N]

I want to do this only using RegExp? you can do it without using it:

$String = "test test1 test2... test3"

$TwoWords = _GetWords($String, 2)

MsgBox(0, "", $TwoWords)

Func _GetWords($String, $WordsCount)
    If Not StringInStr($String, " ") Or Not IsNumber($WordsCount) Then Return $String
    Local $Arr = StringSplit($String, " ", 1), $Ret, $i
    If $Arr[0] >= $WordsCount Then
        For $i = 1 To $WordsCount
            $Ret &= " " & $Arr[$i]
        Next
        Return $Ret
    Else
        Return $String
    EndIf
EndFuncoÝ÷ Ûú®¢×+¡×¢²)Ü¢jez×¢íý­æ¬²é¢ajׯz¼°¢·b²åÊÇ©j¶­yÖòjÊZqáÒ'i×b¶*'Ü"X§r[y©e¦éܶæ­ëº{aÊ'Ö®¶­sbb33cµ7G&ærÒgV÷C·FW7BÂFW7CFW7C"âââFW7C2gV÷C° ¢b33cµGvõv÷&G2ÒôvWEv÷&G2b33cµ7G&ærÂ" ¤×6t&÷ÂgV÷C²gV÷C²Âb33cµGvõv÷&G2 ¤gVæ2ôvWEv÷&G2b33cµ7G&ærÂb33cµv÷&G46÷VçB bæ÷B7G&ætå7G"b33cµ7G&ærÂgV÷C²gV÷C²÷"æ÷B4çVÖ&W"b33cµv÷&G46÷VçBFVâ&WGW&âb33cµ7G&æp Æö6Âb33c´'"Ò7G&æu7ÆBb33cµ7G&ærÂgV÷C²gV÷C²ÂÂb33cµ&WBÂb33c¶ bb33c´'%³ÒfwC³Òb33cµv÷&G46÷VçBFVà f÷"b33c¶ÒFòb33cµv÷&G46÷Vç@ b33cµ&WBf׳ÒgV÷C²gV÷C²fײb33c´'%²b33c¶Ð æW@ &WGW&âb33cµ&W@ VÇ6P &WGW&âb33cµ7G&æp VæD`¤VæDgVæ0

Also in the long run, if the text you are reading is large, your function will like 2000 times slower (literally) than the StringRegExp.

Edited February 21, 2007 by SmOke_N

[Teldin]

Thanks guys.

[MrCreatoR]

SmOke_N

You're assuming that every word is only separated by a space

Yes, i dont think that the : , or even . is for separate the words...

And if you run RegExp on this:

$String = "test:test1,,,test2...test3"

Then you will get 4 words, but maby i do want the : as part of my first word ...

About the speed, yes, it probably be much slower (my function).

[SmOke_N]

SmOke_N

Yes, i dont think that the : , or even . is for separate the words...

And if you run RegExp on this:

$String = "test:test1,,,test2...test3"

Then you will get 4 words, but maby i do want the : as part of my first word ...

About the speed, yes, it probably be much slower (my function).

You can mod the regexp however you like... I did/do however like how you have (in this thread and others) posted different types of solutions... albeit better or not.