Using JavaScript, you can split a string by whitespace unless it is surrounded by parentheses, single quotation marks, or square brackets

Question

Using JavaScript, you can split a string by whitespace unless it is surrounded by parentheses, single quotation marks, or square brackets

Here is my method: https://regex101.com/r/vyKG1j/1

[\s]+(?!([^[]*])|([^\(]*\)))

However, I encountered issues with encapsulated brackets like (a b (c d)) and struggled to include apostrophe search.

For example:

"a b (a (a b)) [a b c d] 'test string' (a b)"

Expected results:

["a", "b", "(a (a b))", "[a b c d]", "'test string'", "(a b)"]

It would be ideal if the solution could also handle situations like this.

For instance: "a b abcd(a b)"
Desired output:["a", "b", "abcd(a b)"]

Do you think regex is the most effective approach here?

javascript regex

Answer 1

Answer №1

If you're wondering whether a problem can be solved using regular expressions, ask yourself this: "Can I create a finite automata (state machine) for this issue?" Keep in mind that the automata cannot store any information.

Now let's examine the nested structure within the substring provided: (a (a b))

How would you design a universal finite automata to handle this situation? Specifically, how will the automata keep track of the number of opening brackets to ensure there are an equal number of closing brackets in a certain pattern?

This string pattern cannot be effectively processed using only pure regular expressions.

In this straightforward scenario, my approach would involve iterating through the string while utilizing a stack to monitor the brackets and quotation marks in order to manually parse it.

Answer 2

If you're wondering whether a problem can be solved using regular expressions, ask yourself this: "Can I create a finite automata (state machine) for this issue?" Keep in mind that the automata cannot store any information.

Now let's examine the nested structure within the substring provided: (a (a b))

How would you design a universal finite automata to handle this situation? Specifically, how will the automata keep track of the number of opening brackets to ensure there are an equal number of closing brackets in a certain pattern?

This string pattern cannot be effectively processed using only pure regular expressions.

In this straightforward scenario, my approach would involve iterating through the string while utilizing a stack to monitor the brackets and quotation marks in order to manually parse it.

Using JavaScript, you can split a string by whitespace unless it is surrounded by parentheses, single quotation marks, or square brackets

Answer №1

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