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Using regex how do we extract multiple substrings inside of a string?

Suppose we have this:

resgrp/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/vvvvvdgdevstor","subject":"/blobServices/default/containers/coloradohhhhready/blobs/README_.._.hl7","eventType":"Microsoft.Storage.BlobCreated","eventTime":"2019-06-19T17:28:40.3136657Z","id":"604ad6c5a0145-04c4-26bsssss26a","data":{"api":"PutBlockList","clientRequestId":"aaaaaaae-4e68-95f6-c1ssssb02f"

The result I'd like is:

/coloradohhhhready/README_.._.hl7

What I've tried is:

(?i)(?<=\/containers\/)(.*)(?=\/blobs\/)(.*)(?<=\/blobs\/)(.*)(?=","eventtype)

Which yielded:

coloradohhhhready/blobs/README_.._.hl7

I would simply want to remove the /blobs/ segment inside of that string:

enter image description here

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  • If you don't match the / after /blobs in your pattern, you could use the first and third capturing group (?i)(?<=\/containers\/)(.*)(?=\/blobs)(.*)(?<=\/blobs)(.*)(?=","eventtype) Perhaps you could update your pattern to (?i)(?<=\/containers)(/[^/]+)/blobs(/[^"/]+)(?=","eventtype") and use group 1 and group 2. Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 14:31
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    Just post-process it: match = match.Replace("/blobs/", "/"). Anyway, you cannot match discontinuous text within one match operation into a single group. Lookarounds are not meant to "make holes" in the texts you mach. Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 14:31
  • @WiktorStribiżew is this not possible to do with pure regex? Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 14:34
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    I think it is clear from my comment. Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 14:37
  • from your comment Anyway, you cannot match discontinuous text within one match operation into a single group. Lookarounds are not meant to "make holes" in the texts you mach. you are saying that this is simply not possible to do with regex. am i understanding correctly? thanks so much Commented Jun 28, 2019 at 14:38

3 Answers 3

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If you know you will always want to remove /blobs/, then simply replace the whole thing after with a /.

On the other hand, pasting your solution on Regex101 showed that the match of your epxression yields 3 groups, one of which is /blobs/. Thus, in your case it would be as simple as reconstructing another string by doing: "/" + Group[1].Value + "/" + Group[3].Value.

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3 Comments

another words you're saying that this is not possible to do with pure regex?
im interested in a purely regex solution
the reason this had a .net tag was because i wanted to ensure that the regex was .net-compliant, but since that was confusing, i've removed .net tag
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If you want to match it using a regex, you could use 2 capturing groups and match instead of using lookarounds what comes before, after and /blobs in the middle.

In the capturing group (/[^/]+) match a forward slash followed by matching not a /

Your values are in capturing group 1 and group 2.

(?i)(?:/containers)(/[^/]+)/blobs(/[^"/]+)(?:","eventtype")

Regex demo | .NET C# example

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full match is returning unwanted /containers/ and /blobs/ strings: drive.google.com/uc?id=1aMlln70rbrKY4cBHtPY1m6kwvuxQcScy
thank you i see that, however this is not a purely regex solution Console.WriteLine(m.Groups[1].Value + m.Groups[2].Value); i dont want to involve any other code besides regex, not c#
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My guess is that this expression,

(?:\/blobs\/)|(.*?)

would be maybe an option to start.

Demo

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thanks again for your help, emma, another words this is not possible to do with pure regex?
that's a really cool solution, however, it looks like it's capturing everything except for /blobs drive.google.com/uc?id=15mxMKImot48Lj-e_o4wxJSqaKXkVTjLS

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