Split nested parameters using regex

Question

Can anyone help with a regex method (or other) to split this string

string text = "Item -> \"Elephant\", Branches -> 10, Color -> RGB[1, 0, 1], Style -> {Font -> \"Courier New\", Size -> 7}, Display -> True";

to obtain

List<string> directives = new List<string>();

containing the following five strings?

"Item -> \"Elephant\""
"Branches -> 10"
"Color -> RGB[1, 0, 1]"
"Style -> {Font -> \"Courier New\", Size -> 7}"
"Display -> True"

Problem is that there are commas within the values, it makes the logic so much more difficult, because what's the condition for when to split on comma and when shouldn't you split on comma? You likely need to introduce some escape based logic — Allan S. Hansen
– Allan S. Hansen, Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 10:33
@Shafizadeh Won't that split up the RGB and Style directives? — Chris Degnen
– Chris Degnen, Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 10:33

karthik manchala · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-06 10:34:24Z

3

You can use the following to split:

,\s*(?=\s*[^,]+-)

See DEMO

answered Apr 6, 2016 at 10:34

karthik manchala

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2 Comments

Chris Degnen Over a year ago

Wow, looks promising... except it split the Style directive. Think I need to add something for the curly braces.

karthik manchala Over a year ago

Yeah.. it will be difficult to consider where to split with that.. it might need changing the string with escape characters

Tim007 · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-06 10:54:35Z

2

Try this

Option 1:

([^,]+{[^}]+})|([^,]+\[[^\]]+\])|([^,]+)

Regex Demo

Input:

Item -> \"Elephant\", Branches -> 10, Color -> RGB[1, 0, 1], Style -> {Font -> \"Courier New\", Size -> 7}, Display -> True

Output:

MATCH 1
3.  [0-20]  `Item -> \"Elephant\"`
MATCH 2
3.  [21-36] ` Branches -> 10`
MATCH 3
2.  [37-59] ` Color -> RGB[1, 0, 1]`
MATCH 4
1.  [60-106]    ` Style -> {Font -> \"Courier New\", Size -> 7}`
MATCH 5
3.  [107-123]   ` Display -> True`

Explanation:

([^,]+{[^}]+}) captures Any -> {Any}
([^,]+\[[^\]]+\]) captures Any -> [Any]
([^,]+) captures others except ,

Option 2:

,\s*(?![^{]+}|[^\[]+\])

Regex Demo

Output:

Item -> \"Elephant\"
Branches -> 10
Color -> RGB[1, 0, 1]
Style -> {Font -> \"Courier New\", Size -> 7}
Display -> True

edited Apr 6, 2016 at 10:54

answered Apr 6, 2016 at 10:40

Tim007

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