Regex: Extract "Key: Value" (No Delimiter)

Question

Can you extract these "key: value" pairs with ONE regex only?

"a: xyz   b:  pqr st  c: lm no p"

The result I would like:

"a" => "xyz"
"b" => "pqr st"
"c" => "lm no p"

My Attempt (With Two Regex)

var s = 'a: xyz   b:  pqr st  c: lm no p';
var r = /(?:.(?!(?:a|b|c):))+/g;
var m;

while ((m = r.exec(s))) {

    var s2 = m[0];
    var r2 = /(a|b|c):\s*(.+)/;
    var m2 = r2.exec(s2);

    console.log('"' + m2[1] + '" => "' + m2[2] + '"');
}

The result I get:

"a" => "xyz  "
"b" => "pqr st "
"c" => "lm no p"

So, can this be done with ONE regex only?

Ωmega · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-27 14:52:16Z

2

Use regex pattern /(\w+):\s*([^:]+)(?=\s|$)/g

See this demo.

To trim whitespace characters use around use regex pattern

/(\w+):\s*([^:]*\S)\s*(?=\w+:|$)/g

See this demo.

 /\b(\w+):\s*([^:]*\S)\b\s*(?=\w+:|$)/g

See this demo.

edited Nov 27, 2012 at 14:52

answered Nov 27, 2012 at 14:31

Ωmega

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5 Comments

Grant Shield Over a year ago

Nope, doesn't get the "st" in b or the "no p" in c.

Ωmega Over a year ago

@GrantShield - Click on demo link again. Works for me!

Ωmega Over a year ago

@GrantShield - I have posted updated version that trim whitespace characters

Grant Shield Over a year ago

Thanks, but if the key is longer than one char it doesn't work.

Ωmega Over a year ago

@GrantShield - Answer/Code has been updated based on your comment

Anirudha · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-27 15:01:28Z

2

You can try this

var s = 'a: xyz   b:  pqr st  c: lm no p';
var r = /(?:\s|^)(\w+):\s*(.*?)(?=\s+\w+:|$)/g;
var m;

while ((m = r.exec(s))) {
    console.log('"' + m[1] + '" => "' + m[2] + '"');
}

edited Nov 27, 2012 at 15:01

answered Nov 27, 2012 at 14:34

Anirudha

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5 Comments

Grant Shield Over a year ago

Almost perfect, thank you! Anyway to trim the whitespace in the values?

chaseadamsio Over a year ago

/(?:.(?!(?:a|b|c):))+\w/g The \w at the end will trim the whitespace.

Grant Shield Over a year ago

This one allows multi char keys (which is great!) but there is white-space before some of the values. It it possible to trim that?

Ωmega Over a year ago

/(?:\s|^)(\w+):\s*(.*?)(?=\s+\w+:|$)/g;

Ωmega Over a year ago

Wrong! - I've posted correct code in the above comment 1 minute ago. Use that one!

chaseadamsio · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-27 14:34:45Z

0

Regex:

/(?:.(?!(?:a|b|c):))+\w/g

answered Nov 27, 2012 at 14:34

chaseadamsio

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1 Comment

Grant Shield Over a year ago

This one doesn't seem to capture any groups.

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