Get text between specific strings as different strings in regex

Question

I have been trying to get text between two strings-('Item' and 'Item') but since 'Item' is present multiple times throughout the large document(which is itself a string) i get almost all whole of the document. I can't figure out the regex code to get text between one 'item' and the next 'Item' till the last 'Item' as different strings.

I have tried regex codes but i can't figure it out.

First try :

(?<=Item)(.*)(?=Item)

Second try:

value = search('Item(.+)Item', text)
if value is not None:
    value = value.group(1)

The First try selects almost all of document

The Second try only gives the first occurrence of text between 'Item' and 'Item'.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Try making it non greedy. Since you capture the value in a group, you can omit the lookarounds. Item(.*?)Item — The fourth bird
– The fourth bird, Commented May 29, 2019 at 11:47
Sample Text: 'Item Hello this is a sample Item String on StackOverflow Item Posted on a Item Wednesday' . Result: Hello this a sample , String on Overflow, Posted on a , Wednesday — Deep Dhillon
– Deep Dhillon, Commented May 29, 2019 at 11:56
@Thefourthbird I tried doing that but it sill returns only the first occurrence — Deep Dhillon
– Deep Dhillon, Commented May 29, 2019 at 12:02
@Thefourthbird Thanks for your help too! I now understand the logic behind it — Deep Dhillon
– Deep Dhillon, Commented May 29, 2019 at 12:19

Toto · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-29 12:02:50Z

1

import re

string = 'Item Hello this is a sample Item String on StackOverflow Item Posted on a Item Wednesday'

print re.findall(r"(?<=Item ).+?(?= Item|$)",  string)

Output:

['Hello this is a sample', 'String on StackOverflow', 'Posted on a', 'Wednesday']

Explanation:

(?<=Item )      # positive lookbehind, make sure we have "Item " before
.+?             # 1 or more any character, not greedy
(?= Item|$)     # positive lookahead, make sure we have "Item " or end of line after

answered May 29, 2019 at 12:02

Toto

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1 Comment

Deep Dhillon Over a year ago

This worked ! Thank you @Toto . I am new to regex but i definitely have learnt a new useful method!

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