Regex lazy matching within group?

Question

I'm trying to matching something like:

aabbaCaabaCabCbaCCC, grouped as (aabbaCaabaCabCba)(CCC), i.e. with any final Cs matched as a separate group.

I assumed I could use lazy matching somehow, but nothing I've tried worked. For example:

/(a+|b+|C*?)+(C*)/ and /(a+|b+|C*)+?(C*)/ match too much or not enough; they include the CCC in the first group, or they only match the initial aa.

This is in JavaScript by the way.

rock321987 · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-21 12:37:05Z

1

You can use this regex

\b([abC]*?)(C*)\b

Regex Demo

JS Demo

var re = /\b([abC]+?)(C*)\b/g;
var str = "aabbaCaabaCabCbaCCC";

if ((m = re.exec(str)) !== null) {
    document.writeln("<pre>" + m[1] + "</br>" + m[2] + "</br>" + "</pre>");
}

edited May 21, 2016 at 12:37

answered May 21, 2016 at 10:31

rock321987

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7 Comments

Joseph Humfrey Over a year ago

Hmm, this one only works if I include ^ and $. Unfortunately I don't have that luxury since it's in the middle of a line...

rock321987 Over a year ago

@JosephHumfrey ok, but then think for yourself, which C will be the deciding factor?

rock321987 Over a year ago

@JosephHumfrey in aabbaCaabaC, I find two C..So one possibility is (aabba)(C)..is it wrong?

rock321987 Over a year ago

@JosephHumfrey It can be handled if its a word, though

bobble bubble Over a year ago

Comment above from @WiktorStribiżew would be better here (:

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