Objective C - NSRegularExpression with specific substring - ios

I have an NSString which I am checking if there is an NSLog and then I comment it out.
I am using NSRegularExpression and then looping through result.
The code:
-(NSString*)commentNSLogFromLine:(NSString*)lineStr {
NSString *regexStr =#"NSLog\\(.*\\)[\\s]*\\;";
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:regexStr options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive error:nil];
NSArray *arrayOfAllMatches = [regex matchesInString:lineStr options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, [lineStr length])];
NSMutableString *mutStr = [[NSMutableString alloc]initWithString:lineStr];
for (NSTextCheckingResult *textCheck in arrayOfAllMatches) {
if (textCheck) {
NSRange matchRange = [textCheck range];
NSString *strToReplace = [lineStr substringWithRange:matchRange];
NSString *commentedStr = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"/*%#*/",[lineStr substringWithRange:matchRange]];
[mutStr replaceOccurrencesOfString:strToReplace withString:commentedStr options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch range:matchRange];
NSRange rOriginal = [mutStr rangeOfString:#"NSLog("];
if (NSNotFound != rOriginal.location) {
[mutStr replaceOccurrencesOfString:#"NSLog(" withString:#"DSLog(" options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch range:rOriginal];
}
}
}
return [NSString stringWithString:mutStr];
}
The problem is with the test case:
NSString *str = #"NSLog(#"A string"); NSLog(#"A string2")"
Instead of returning "/*DSLog(#"A string");*/ /*DSLog(#"A string2")*/" it returns: "/*DSLog(#"A string"); NSLog(#"A string2")*/".
The issue is how the Objective-C handles the regular expression. I would expected 2 results in arrayOfAllMatches but instead that I am getting only one. Is there any way to ask Objective-C to stop on the first occurrence of ); ?

The problem is with the regular expression. You are searching for .* inside the parentheses, which causes it to include the first close parenthesis, continue through the second NSLog statement, and go all the way to the final close parentheses.
So what you want to do is something like this:
NSString *regexStr =#"NSLog\\([^\\)]*\\)[\\s]*\\;";
That tells it to include everything inside the parenthesis except for the ) character. Using that regex, I get two matches. (note that you omitted the final ; in your string sample).

Related

SubString from existing string iOS

I have two strings as followed:
NSString *newStr = #"143.2a";
NSString *expression = #"^([0-9]*)(\\.([0-9]{0,10})?)?$";
I want to substring "newStr" such as all my characters in "expression" should be present after subString. Like
NSString * extractedString = #"143.2";
(except all alphabets and symbols other than single'.')
How shall I do this?
First of all, your regex pattern won't extract that string.
If you want to check for one or more digits followed be a dot followed be one or more digits the pattern is supposed to be
NSString *expression = #"\\d+\\.\\d+";
To extract the string use the NSRegularExpression class as suggested by Larme.
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:expression options:0 error:nil];
NSTextCheckingResult *firstMatch = [regex firstMatchInString:newStr options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, newStr.length)];
if (firstMatch) {
NSString *extractedString = [newStr substringWithRange:firstMatch.range];
NSLog(#"%#", extractedString);
} else {
NSLog(#"Not Found");
}

How to use regular expression match "in iOS

For example , the following is the source I want match:
<div class="cont">
I use
<div\s+class\=\"cont\">
But it doesn't work , if I modify the expression like
<div\s+class\=.*?cont.*?>
Now , it can give me the result I want .
So I think , the problem should be in " this character.
Following is the code I use in iOS , it can works for some other regular expression:
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:reg options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive error:nil];
NSArray *matches = [regex matchesInString:resultStr options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, [resultStr length])];
for (NSTextCheckingResult *match in matches) {
NSRange matchRange = [match range];
NSString *tagString = [resultStr substringWithRange:matchRange];
[resultArr addObject:tagString];
}
You are trying to match HTML with regular expressions. It is definitely very troublesome, since HTML you receive can be all uppercase, single quotes may be used instead of double or be missing, etc.
That said, if you really need a regex solution, I'd recommend to account for any number of attributes before class=cont and allow any attribute value delimiters:
NSString *pattern = #"<div\\b[^<]*class=[\"']?cont\\b[^<]*>";
Here, I am using \b to match a word boundary, [^<]* checks for any other attributes before class, ["']? allows either a single or double quotation mark or nothing, then \b makes sure cont is followed by a non-word character, and [^<]* checks for any other attributes before final >.
Also, \" is escaped once as it is a C string delimiter and \\b is escaped twice to make sure we pass \b to the regex engine.
Sample code at CodingGround:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <Foundation/NSTextCheckingResult.h>
int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{
NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
NSError *error = nil;
NSString *pattern = #"<div\\b[^<]*class=[\"']?cont\\b[^<]*>";
NSString *string = #"<div class=\"cont\">";
NSRange range = NSMakeRange(0, string.length);
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:pattern options:0 error:&error];
NSArray *matches = [regex matchesInString:string options:0 range:range];
for (NSTextCheckingResult *match in matches) {
NSRange matchRange = [match range];
NSString *m = [string substringWithRange:matchRange];
NSLog(#"Matched string: %#", m);
}
[pool drain];
return 0;
}
Here goes the code:
NSString *stricterFilterString = #"[A-Z0-9a-z\\._%+-]+#([A-Za-z0-9-]+\\.)+[A-Za-z]{2,4}";
NSString *laxString = #".+#([A-Za-z0-9]+\\.)+[A-Za-z]{2}[A-Za-z]*";
NSString *emailRegex = stricterFilter ? stricterFilterString : laxString;
NSPredicate *emailTest = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"SELF MATCHES %#", emailRegex];

How to work with the results from NSRegularExpression when using the regex pattern as a string delimiter

I'm using a simple pattern with NSRegularExpression to delimit content within a string:
(\s)+(and|or)(\s)+
So, when I use matchesInString it's not the matches that I'm interested in, but the other stuff.
Below is the code that I'm using. Iterating over the matches and then using indexes and lengths to pull out the content.
Question: I'm just wondering if I'm missing something in the api to get the other bits? Or, is the approach below generally ok?
- (NSArray*)separateText:(NSString*)text
{
NSString* regExPattern = #"(\\s)+(and|or)(\\s)+";
NSError* error = NULL;
NSRegularExpression* regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:regExPattern
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive
error:&error];
NSArray* matches = [regex matchesInString:text options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, text.length)];
if (matches.count == 0) {
return #[text];
}
NSInteger itemStartIndex = 0;
NSMutableArray* result = [NSMutableArray new];
for (NSTextCheckingResult* match in matches) {
NSRange matchRange = [match range];
if (!matchRange.location == 0) {
NSInteger matchStartIndex = matchRange.location;
NSInteger length = matchStartIndex - itemStartIndex;
NSString* item = [text substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(itemStartIndex, length)];
if (item.length != 0) {
[result addObject:item];
}
}
itemStartIndex = NSMaxRange(matchRange);
}
if (itemStartIndex != text.length) {
NSInteger length = text.length - itemStartIndex;
NSString* item = [text substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(itemStartIndex, length)];
[result addObject:item];
}
return result;
}
You can capture the string before the and|or with parentheses, and add it to your array with rangeAtIndex.
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:#"(.+?)(\\s+(and|or)\\W+|\\s*$)" options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive error:&error];
NSMutableArray *phrases = [NSMutableArray array];
[regex enumerateMatchesInString:string options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, [string length]) usingBlock:^(NSTextCheckingResult *result, NSMatchingFlags flags, BOOL *stop) {
NSRange range = [result rangeAtIndex:1];
[phrases addObject:[string substringWithRange:range]];
}];
A couple of minor points about my regex:
I added the |\\s*$ construct to capture the last string after the final and|or. If you don't want that, you can eliminate that.
I replaced the second \\s+ (whitespace) with a \\W+ (non-word characters), in case you encountered something like and|or followed by a comma or something else. You could alternatively look explicitly for ,?\\s+ if the comma was the only non-word character you cared about. It just depends upon the specific business problem you're solving.
You might want to replace the first \\s+ with \\W+, too.
If your string contains newline characters, you might want to use the NSRegularExpressionDotMatchesLineSeparators option when you instantiate the NSRegularExpression.
You could replace all matches of the regex with a template string (e.g. ", " or "," etc) and then separate the string components based on that new delimiter.
NSString *stringToBeMatched = #"Your string to be matched";
NSString *regExPattern = #"(\\s)+(and|or)(\\s)+";
NSError *error = nil;
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:regExPattern
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive
error:&error];
if (error) {
// handle error
}
NSString *replacementString = [regex stringByReplacingMatchesInString:stringToBeMatched
options:0
range:NSMakeRange(0, stringToBeMatched.length)
withTemplate:#","];
NSArray *otherItemsInString = [replacementString componentsSeparatedByString:#","];

Getting wrong range with regex in Objective-C

I have the following string: "Title: " and I am using regex in Objective-C to extract the "/books/1/title" part from the string. (The string can contain multiple expressions) The regex is as follows <\?(.+?)\?>. My problem is that it matches the whole string(from index 0 to 24) and not the content between the tags.
The code is as follows:
NSString *object = #"Title: <?/books/1/title?>";
NSMutableString *newString = [[NSMutableString alloc] initWithString:object];
NSString *pattern = #"<\?(.+?)\?>";
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:pattern
options:0 error:NULL];
NSArray *matches = [regex matchesInString:object options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, [object length])];
for (NSInteger i = [matches count]-1; i>=0 ; i--) {
NSTextCheckingResult * match = [matches objectAtIndex:i];
if (match != nil && [match rangeAtIndex:0].location != NSNotFound && [match numberOfRanges] == 2) {
NSRange part1Range = [match rangeAtIndex:1];
NSLog(#"%lu %lu", (unsigned long)part1Range.location, (unsigned long)part1Range.length);
}
}
It looks like you have incorrectly escaped the question marks: you used a single backslash, but Objective-C compiler needs two slashes in a string literal in order to represent a single backslash:
NSString *pattern = #"<\\?(.+?)\\?>";
Without the extra slash single slashes are not becoming part of the string, so regex engine sees this expression <?(.+?)?>, treats the opening angular bracket as optional, and then proceeds to matching the whole text up to the closing angular bracket.
One way to escape meta-characters, such as question marks and dots, is enclosing them into a character class instead of using a backslash. This expression is equivalent to yours, but it does not additional escaping of slashes:
NSString *pattern = #"<[?](.+?)[?]>";

iOS: extract substring of NSString in objective C

I have an NSString as:
"<a href='javascript:void(null)' onclick='handleCommandForAnchor(this, 10);return false;'>12321<\/a>"
I need to extract the 12321 near the end of the NSString from it and store.
First I tried
NSString *shipNumHtml=[mValues objectAtIndex:1];
NSInteger htmlLen=[shipNumHtml length];
NSString *shipNum=[[shipNumHtml substringFromIndex:htmlLen-12]substringToIndex:8];
But then I found out that number 12321 can be of variable length.
I can't find a method like java's indexOf() to find the '>' and '<' and then find substring with those indices. All the answers I've found on SO either know what substring to search for or know the location if the substring. Any help?
I don't usually advocate using Regular expressions for parsing HTML contents but it seems a regex matching >(\d+)< would to the job in this simple string.
Here is a simple example:
NSError *error = nil;
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:#">(\\d+)<"
options:0
error:&error];
// Handle error != nil
NSTextCheckingResult *match = [regex firstMatchInString:string
options:0
range:NSMakeRange(0, [string length])];
if (match) {
NSRange matchRange = [match rangeAtIndex:1];
NSString *number = [string substringWithRange:matchRange]
NSLog(#"Number: %#", number);
}
As #HaneTV says, you can use the NSString method rangeOfString to search for substrings. Given that the characters ">" and "<" appear in multiple places in your string, so you might want to take a look at NSRegularExpression and/or NSScanner.
that may help on you a bit, I've just tested:
NSString *_string = #"<a href='javascript:void(null)' onclick='handleCommandForAnchor(this, 10);return false;'>12321</a>";
NSError *_error;
NSRegularExpression *_regExp = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:#">(.*)<" options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive error:&_error];
NSArray *_matchesInString = [_regExp matchesInString:_string options:NSMatchingReportCompletion range:NSMakeRange(0, _string.length)];
[_matchesInString enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(NSTextCheckingResult * result, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
for (int i = 0; i < result.numberOfRanges; i++) {
NSString *_match = [_string substringWithRange:[result rangeAtIndex:i]];
NSLog(#"%#", _match);
}
}];

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