i need some help here...plz.

i have the following html\txt based file. (only one line from it)

<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER><TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'> 11:40</FONT></TD> <TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>1.54</FONT></TD>

(its one line...not two in the source file)

i want to make a pattern which give this : 11:40 and this : 1.54

i know how to do it,but in two seperated patterns...my question is,how to do it in one pattern.

i have the pattern which take this:11:40 out...here it is:

("(\>\s\d{2}):(\d{2})")

but how to take both out in one pattern??????

10x in advance.

This can be done using groups. This allows you to name a part of the regular expression, as you would a variable, and then retrieve only this part by name. It is a very powerful feature of regular expressions. This may be a bit of a jump from what you were doing. So if you have an problems I'd be happy to help.

Your text.

<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER><TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'> 11:40</FONT></TD> <TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>1.54</FONT></TD>

This expression will match the whole of the text. I've labeled the bits you are interested in 'itemone' and 'itemtwo'

\<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER\>\<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemone>[0-9:]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\> \<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemtwo>[0-9.]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>

To get the part of the regular expression you are interested in you can use some code like this. Not great but gives you the idea. :)

   Public Function ReturnValues(ByVal RegularExpression As String, ByVal mytext As String, ByVal item As String) As String()
       Dim myRegExp As New Regex(RegularExpression, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
       Dim Matchs As MatchCollection = myRegExp.Matches(mytext)
       Dim currentMatch As Match

       Dim matchedValues As New ArrayList


       For Each currentMatch In Matchs
           Dim myCaptures As CaptureCollection = currentMatch.Groups(item).Captures
           Dim currentItem As Capture
           For Each currentItem In myCaptures
               matchedValues.Add(currentItem.Value)
           Next

       Next

       Return CType(matchedValues.ToArray(GetType(String)), String())
   End Function

and call it by

       Dim myPattern As String = "\<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER\>\<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemone>[0-9:]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\> \<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemtwo>[0-9.]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>"
       Dim myText As String = "<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER><TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>11:40</FONT></TD> <TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>1.54</FONT></TD>"
       Dim oneValues() As String = ReturnValues(myPattern, myText, "itemone")
       Dim twoValues() As String = ReturnValues(myPattern, myText, "itemtwo")

In this example the oneValues array will contain only "11:40" and the twoValues "1.54" but if there were more lines matching the pattern, i.e. a table, then you'd get a list of all the matching numbers in that column.

This is what I spend my time doing, using regular expressions to read tables of data and do calculations on it :-)

This can be done using groups. This allows you to name a part of the regular expression, as you would a variable, and then retrieve only this part by name. It is a very powerful feature of regular expressions. This may be a bit of a jump from what you were doing. So if you have an problems I'd be happy to help.

 

Your text.

<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER><TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'> 11:40</FONT></TD> <TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>1.54</FONT></TD>

 

This expression will match the whole of the text. I've labeled the bits you are interested in 'itemone' and 'itemtwo'

\<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER\>\<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemone>[0-9:]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\> \<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemtwo>[0-9.]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>

 

To get the part of the regular expression you are interested in you can use some code like this. Not great but gives you the idea. :)

 

   Public Function ReturnValues(ByVal RegularExpression As String, ByVal mytext As String, ByVal item As String) As String()
       Dim myRegExp As New Regex(RegularExpression, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
       Dim Matchs As MatchCollection = myRegExp.Matches(mytext)
       Dim currentMatch As Match

       Dim matchedValues As New ArrayList


       For Each currentMatch In Matchs
           Dim myCaptures As CaptureCollection = currentMatch.Groups(item).Captures
           Dim currentItem As Capture
           For Each currentItem In myCaptures
               matchedValues.Add(currentItem.Value)
           Next

       Next

       Return CType(matchedValues.ToArray(GetType(String)), String())
   End Function

 

and call it by

       Dim myPattern As String = "\<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER\>\<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemone>[0-9:]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\> \<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='[a-zA-Z0-9#]{1,}'\>(?<itemtwo>[0-9.]{1,})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>"
       Dim myText As String = "<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER><TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>11:40</FONT></TD> <TD><FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'>1.54</FONT></TD>"
       Dim oneValues() As String = ReturnValues(myPattern, myText, "itemone")
       Dim twoValues() As String = ReturnValues(myPattern, myText, "itemtwo")

 

In this example the oneValues array will contain only "11:40" and the twoValues "1.54" but if there were more lines matching the pattern, i.e. a table, then you'd get a list of all the matching numbers in that column.

 

This is what I spend my time doing, using regular expressions to read tables of data and do calculations on it :-)

thanks for that!!! i've tried something like that:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim fw As New StreamReader("d:\wave2.txt")

Dim str As String = ""

Dim reg As New Regex("(\<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER\>\<TD\>\<(?<name>(\noop)) COLOR='#FFCC33'\> (?<time>\d{3}\:\d{2})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>)")

str = fw.ReadToEnd

Dim match As MatchCollection

match = reg.Matches(str)

Dim mt As Match

For Each mt In match

MsgBox(mt.Groups("time").Value.ToString)

Next

End Sub

End Class

and it doesnt displays anything...something wrong???? bahh...i have to know this "grouping" thing

I think it isn't returning anything. It returns the whole string because you have this:

MsgBox(str)

Your expression is missing an '*'

Try:

Dim expres As New Regex("(.)(?<tm>\d{2}:\d{2})(.*)(?<ht>\d{1}\.\d{2})(.)")

10x again.!!!! :cool:

ok i figured out what is going on...when i use more then one grouping in one pattern its not returning anything :( :(

for e.g:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim fw As New StreamReader("d:\wave2.txt")

Dim str As String = ""

Dim reg As New Regex("(\<TR ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER\>\<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'\> (?<time>\d{3}\:\d{2})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>\<TD\>\<FONT COLOR='#FFCC33'\>(?<ht>\d{1}\.\d{2})\<\/FONT\>\<\/TD\>)")

str = fw.ReadToEnd

Dim match As MatchCollection

match = reg.Matches(str)

Dim mt As Match

For Each mt In match

MsgBox(mt.Groups("time").Value.ToString)

Next

End Sub

End Class

doesnt returning time. but when i remove "<ht>" group back to its default,i get the time string\group to be displayed.

and its not that my "<ht>" group has any syntax mistake...it doesnt have any.

(?<ht>\d{1}\.\d{2}) = suppose to match 1.23.

what is wrong with it???