splitting text file into array correctly with -split operator

Question

I have a text file that looks like this:


      ;MPV_F4(isHold, taps, state)
      MPV_F5(isHold, taps, state)
         {
            if (taps == 1)
            {
                  if (isHold == 0)
                  {
                   ;[HV] T1 | cycle  mute | This is long LONG
                     Sendinput, {U+0398}  ;Θ ;   ;[rr] [cycle mute         ]
                  }
                  else
                  {
                    if (state)
                                          {
                                             while GetKeyState("f5", "p"){
                                                   Sendinput, {U+0399}  ;Ι ;   ;[rr] [add volume 10    ]  
                                                     sleep, 55
                                                 }  
                                          }
                          ; else
                          ;           {
                          ;           }
                  }
            }
         }      
      MPV_F6(isHold, taps, state)

      ;MPV_F7(isHold, taps, state)

      ;MPV_F8(isHold, taps, state)

      ;MPV_F9(isHold, taps, state)

      ;MPV_F11(isHold, taps, state)

      MPV_N2(isHold, taps, state)
         {
            if (taps == 1)
            {
                  if (isHold == 0)
                  {
                   ;[HV] T1 | cycle  mute | This is long LONG
                     Sendinput, {U+0398}  ;Θ ;   ;[rr] [cycle mute         ]
                  }
                  else
                  {
                    if (state)
                                          {
                                             while GetKeyState("f5", "p"){
                                                   Sendinput, {U+0399}  ;Ι ;   ;[rr] [add volume 10    ]  
                                                     sleep, 55
                                                 }  
                                          }
                          ; else
                          ;           {
                          ;           }
                  }
            }
         }
      ;MPV_N3(isHold, taps, state)
      ;MPV_N4(isHold, taps, state)
      ;MPV_N5(isHold, taps, state)

which essentially consists of a repeating pattern of:

FunctionName(isHold, taps, state)
{
 <Function Body>
}

I am trying to break it down into arrays that consists of the function name and body. I cant use the string MPV in my regex as there are other similar texts files whose function names does not contain MPV.
My exepected output is:

$MyVar [0] :

      MPV_F5(isHold, taps, state)
         {
            if (taps == 1)
            {
                  if (isHold == 0)
                  {
                   ;[HV] T1 | cycle  mute | This is long LONG
                     Sendinput, {U+0398}  ;Θ ;   ;[rr] [cycle mute         ]
                  }
                  else
                  {
                    if (state)
                                          {
                                             while GetKeyState("f5", "p"){
                                                   Sendinput, {U+0399}  ;Ι ;   ;[rr] [add volume 10    ]  
                                                     sleep, 55
                                                 }  
                                          }
                          ; else
                          ;           {
                          ;           }
                  }
            }
         }

$MyVar [1] :

      MPV_N2(isHold, taps, state)
         {
            if (taps == 1)
            {
                  if (isHold == 0)
                  {
                   ;[HV] T1 | cycle  mute | This is long LONG
                     Sendinput, {U+0398}  ;Θ ;   ;[rr] [cycle mute         ]
                  }
                  else
                  {
                    if (state)
                                          {
                                             while GetKeyState("f5", "p"){
                                                   Sendinput, {U+0399}  ;Ι ;   ;[rr] [add volume 10    ]  
                                                     sleep, 55
                                                 }  
                                          }
                          ; else
                          ;           {
                          ;           }
                  }
            }
         }

At first I tried to use Get-Content's -Delimeter parameter:

$mytextfile = "c:\temp\mytextfile.txt"
Get-content $mytextfile -Delimiter '.*[^;]\(isHold, taps, state\)'

It keeps returning the entire content as a single object, After a few more variations I resorted to just using Get-Content -Raw and then -Split operator:

$MyVar = $mytextfile -Split (?m).*[^;]\(isHold, taps, state\)(?s).*\}

I continue to get unexpected results, most commonly the entire content being returned instead of arrays.

I am using RegEx101*, and options are closesly aligned to what powershell expects. I have tried many variations with no desired results.

Here is a link my RegEx101 page.

What could I be doing wrong here?

Any help would be truelly wellcome.

@Zak, I made some changes, not entirely sure if thats what you meant though — hellen_dorandt89
– hellen_dorandt89, Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 23:58
this regex might help you a bit. It's not a complete solution because it won't match the last function in the input, but otherwise it'll do. — dc-ddfe
– dc-ddfe, Commented Nov 29, 2022 at 0:05
@dc-ddfe this look really good. even as you say it being incomplete, it is a good example for me to build from. Thanks allot — hellen_dorandt89
– hellen_dorandt89, Commented Nov 29, 2022 at 0:54

mklement0 · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-29 15:30:56Z

1

Try the following:

$MyVar =
  [regex]::Matches(
    (Get-Content -Raw $mytextfile), 
    '(?sm)\w+\(isHold, taps, state\)\s*\{(?:.(?!\w+\(\w))+\}'
  ).Value

Note that this approach is computation-intensive and relies on detecting the end of a function not by properly detecting nested { / } pairs, but by assuming that the presence of any subsequent <funcname>(<wordcharacter> substring (e.g. 'MPV_F6(i') implies that the most recent } ended the function body.

See this regex101.com page.

edited Nov 29, 2022 at 15:30

answered Nov 29, 2022 at 0:21

mklement0

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3 Comments

hellen_dorandt89 Over a year ago

@mklement0 Fresh morning, fresh eyes! This works as expected and more. Strangely enough, I tried ommitting MPV from your RegEx and it still works as intended. This will serve as a good example to really go beyond a simple RegEx. Thanks allot!

mklement0 Over a year ago

@dc-ddfe, I misread your comment. I've updated the negative lookahead from (?:.(?!MPV_))+ to (?!\w+\(\w))+ to generalize it, which appears to work well enough for hellen_dorandt89, but, of course, it is no substitute for a language parsers that truly understands the file's syntax.

mklement0 Over a year ago

@hellen_dorandt89, glad to hear it. Please see the previous comment re generalizing the negative lookahead assertion. At least with your sample input, omitting it doesn't work for me.

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