Exploring the power of regular expressions in Javascript when used between

Consider the scenario outlined in the text below

I desire [this]. I also desire [this]. I do not desire \[this]

I am interested in extracting the content enclosed within [], but not including \[]. How should I approach this? Currently, I have tried using /\[([^\]]+)\]/gi, but it seems to match everything instead.

Answer №1

Utilize this regular expression pattern: /(?:^|[^\\])\[(.*?)\]/gi

To see a functioning example, click on the link provided:

  • ?: Represents a non-capturing group
  • ^|[^\\] Matches either the beginning of the string or anything other than \
  • \[(.*?)\] Matches any content within square brackets []

Check out this code snippet for reference:

var text = "[this is what I need]I need [this]. I also need [this too]. Not interested in \\[no]";
var regexPattern = /(?:^|[^\\])\[(.*?)\]/gi;
var result = null;

document.write(text + "<br/><br/><b>Matches</b>:<br/> ");
while(result = regexPattern.exec(text)){
   document.write(result[1] + "<br/>");
}

Answer №2

To implement this regular expression, prioritize matching the \[] version first (without capturing it), then focus on capturing what's inside the [] cases:

let regExp = /\\\[.*?\]|\[(.*?)\]/g;
         ^^^^^^^^^                  MATCH \[this]
                   ^^^^^^^^^        MATCH [this]

Utilize a loop with `exec` to retrieve all the matches:

while(match = regExp.exec(str)){
  console.log(match[1]); 
}

Answer №3

/(?:[^\\]|^)\[([^\]]*)/g

The text you're looking for is stored in the first group, $1

(?:^|[^\\]) will find the start of a line or anything that isn't a backslash, without capturing it.

\[ will match an opening square bracket.

([^\]]*) will capture any sequence of characters that are not closing brackets.

\] matches a closing square bracket.

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