Posts tagged "RegEx Tool"

RegEx 111) How to Ignore Whitespace in AutoHotkey Regular Expression

Long Regular Expressions can be very difficult to read and revise when you come back to it later. Using the X) option allows you to Ignore Whitespace in AutoHotkey Regular Expression and insert comments as well as spread out your RegEx over multiple lines.

Below is the example code I use to ignore the whitespace in AutoHotkey RegEx which is demonstrated in the video below. It is a great way to make your code easier to read & maintain. It may take a few months until you revisit your RegEx but, when you do, you’ll thank me for it!

Ignore Whitespace in AutoHotkey Regular Expression

RegEx 110- Example using AutoHotkey Regular Expression on naming convention

I’ve found the best way to learn RegEx is to actually play with it. For that reason I’m making a few videos that will demonstrate actual use-cases. In this example I demonstrate applying an AutoHotkey Regular Expression on naming convention. As I show in this video, there are a ton of different ways you can write a Regular Expression that will capture what you need. There isn’t a “right” & “wrong” way, just make sure what you use is reliable and makes sense to you.

Video demonstrating AutoHotkey Regular Expression on naming convention

RegEx 109- 3 ways to Escape double quotes in AutoHotkey Regular Expression

Much of the syntax in AutoHotkey RegEx is straightforward. Having said that when trying to include double quotes (“) in my pattern I regularly had difficulties. In the following video I demonstrate three separate ways you can escape double quotes in AutoHotkey Regular Expressions.

Here’s a video showing how to handle double quotes in AutoHotkey Regular Expression

And this is the syntax I used escaping quotes in AutoHotkey Regular Expressions in making the video

OuterHTML=
(
<select name="st" id="st">
<option selected="selected" value="20">All results</option>
<option value="13">1 day</option>
)

;***********Storing in variable*******************
;~ RegEx_pattern=selected" value="(?P<Value>.*?)">All results.*?<option value="(?P<Value2>\d+).*? ;done this way- don't need to escape "
;~ RegExMatch(OuterHTML,RegEx_pattern, Sel_)
;~ MsgBox % "first way`r`r" Sel_Value a_tab Sel_Value2

;***********using \x22  *******************
;~ RegExMatch(OuterHTML,"selected\x22 value=\x22(?P<Value>.*?)\x22>All results.*?<option value=\x22(?P<Value2>\d+)\x22.*?", Sel_)
;~ MsgBox % "second way `r`r" Sel_Value a_tab Sel_Value2

;***********repeated ""*******************
RegExMatch(OuterHTML,"selected"" value=""(?P<Value>.*?)"">All results.*?<option value=""(?P<Value2>\d+)"".*?", Sel_)
MsgBox % "third way `r`r" Sel_Value a_tab Sel_Value2

RegEx 108-Return your match in AutoHotkey Regular Expressions match object

Need to get additional information about your RegExMatch? Why not return a AutoHotkey Regular Expressions match object? Having your data returned in an object allows for some great information like: Length, location, name of subpattern, etc. With AHK you can use the O) option to store the matches into an AutoHotkey object. The below video walks through how to do it and gives you a clear example how to access it once it is created.