Regex to find string contained between HTML tags

Question

My problem is finding the position of a specific word (ex: span) in an NSString containing html text, and replace this word.

For example, if my target word is span, my replacement text should look like:

<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #FF0000">span</SPAN>

If my starting text is:

<span class='i_04_12_000000'>this is a span</span>

My desired result would be:

<span class='i_04_12_000000'>this is a <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #FF0000">span</SPAN></span>

Obviously if I just search for span I won't find just the occurrence inside the html tag. Ideas on how to locate the correct string, even with a NSRange ?

UPDATE:

This is the final solution: ;)

    +(NSString *)emphasizeString:(NSString *)stringToEmphasize inText:(NSString *)fullText
{
    NSString * regExp = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"(?i)([\\s\\.,>'-])(%@)([\\s\\.,;!\\?\\)<])",stringToEmphasize];;
    NSArray * regexResult = [fullText arrayOfCaptureComponentsMatchedByRegex:regExp];
    NSString * result = [NSString stringWithString:fullText];
    if([regexResult count] >0)
    {
        for (NSArray * match in regexResult)
        {

            NSString * all = [match objectAtIndex:0];
            NSString * before = [match objectAtIndex:1];
            NSString * matched = [match objectAtIndex:2];
            NSString * after = [match objectAtIndex:3];

            result = [result stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:all 
                                                       withString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@<SPAN style=\"BACKGROUND-COLOR: #FF0000\">%@</SPAN>%@",before, matched, after]
                                                          options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch 
                                                            range: [result rangeOfString:all]];
        }
    }
    NSLog(@"%@",result);
    return result;
}

example html string: this is a span result: this is a span — Kappe
– Kappe, Commented Dec 7, 2011 at 17:21
are these specific words you're looking for surrounded by any kind of markup, e.g: ? — Aaron
– Aaron, Commented Dec 7, 2011 at 17:25
@Kappe you should post your solution as an answer to your question. After two days, you can accept it. — arcain
– arcain, Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 20:04

Kappe · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-03 11:21:27Z

This is the final solution: ;)

    +(NSString *)emphasizeString:(NSString *)stringToEmphasize inText:(NSString *)fullText
{
    NSString * regExp = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"(?i)([\\s\\.,>'-])(%@)([\\s\\.,;!\\?\\)<])",stringToEmphasize];;
    NSArray * regexResult = [fullText arrayOfCaptureComponentsMatchedByRegex:regExp];
    NSString * result = [NSString stringWithString:fullText];
    if([regexResult count] >0)
    {
        for (NSArray * match in regexResult)
        {

            NSString * all = [match objectAtIndex:0];
            NSString * before = [match objectAtIndex:1];
            NSString * matched = [match objectAtIndex:2];
            NSString * after = [match objectAtIndex:3];

            result = [result stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:all 
                                                       withString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@<SPAN style=\"BACKGROUND-COLOR: #FF0000\">%@</SPAN>%@",before, matched, after]
                                                          options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch 
                                                            range: [result rangeOfString:all]];
        }
    }
    NSLog(@"%@",result);
    return result;
}

Aaron · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-07 23:40:52Z

0

Try the following regex: /<[a-z]+.*?>/

EDIT: Update as per your new instructions:

Since the html tag preceding the text you want to capture has a variable number of characters, you can't use lookbehind to grab only the target word preceded by the opening tag. However, you could use:

/(<)([a-z]+)(.*?>.*?)(\2)(.*?</\1>)/

to capture an entire tag where the tag's name is repeated somewhere in its body text and isolate that piece of text in a capture group. Then, use a replacement method to with that regex as the search pattern, and "$1$2$3$4$5" (where $4 indicates the fourth capture group containing our target text) for your replacement string.

edited Dec 7, 2011 at 23:40

answered Dec 7, 2011 at 17:31

Aaron

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3 Comments

arcain Over a year ago

This pattern will only locate  and not the span between the tags.

Aaron Over a year ago

@arcain Check my edited post to see if it's more along the lines of what you're looking for.

Kappe Over a year ago

Hi Aaron, this regex don't seems work, i update the answer with my solution

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