Find string but exclude if it is part of another string

Question

Have the following string:

text TOKEN text TOKEN text <elem attr="text TOKEN text">text TOKEN text TOKEN</elem> text TOKEN text

Need a RegEx that will give me all TOKEN but NOT in any part of any elem element

EDIT: I do have the RegEx to gather all elem elements.

<elem(.*?)>(.*?)</elem>

I cannot figure out how to exclude these from the RegEx to find TOKEN

Not sure what you mean by "flavour" but this will be used in Java — user2287359
– user2287359, Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 16:50
This is not pure HTML. This is text that happens to include some XML elements. I need a RegEx to exclude these from the search for TOKEN — user2287359
– user2287359, Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 17:04
You should include more details, maybe actual searched TOKEN. It's not very clear what you ask here. — CSᵠ
– CSᵠ, Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 17:09

MikeM · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-16 17:43:51Z

2

The following will not match "TOKEN" when "</elem>" appears before "<elem" ahead in the string.

"TOKEN(?!(?:(?!<elem).)*</elem>)"

If the string may contain newline characters, add the Pattern.DOTALL flag.

Further explanation on request.

answered Apr 16, 2013 at 17:43

MikeM

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