Another issue with RegEx in Java

I am going through a RegEx issue… again. Now, i am trying to search the following string:

"< < * < • 1 2 3 > <<0 12345®789>> * * < < 1 2 > <<0 123456<89>>*> >"

The ‘rules’: The first part: "< < * < "

Will be, as shown: two “<” one “*” and one “<“. Between them, there might be from zero to 5 spaces.

The last part: "> > * > >"

Will be, as shown, two “>” one “*” and two “>”. Between them, there might be from zero to 5 spaces.

Finally, between the first and last part, "• 1 2 3 > <<0 12345®789>> * * < < 1 2 > <<0 123456<89" can be anything as shown.

I tried this code but it doesnt seem to work:

Pattern.compile("<\s{0,3}<\s{0,3}\*\s{0,3}<\s{0,3}.>\s{0,3}>\s{0,3}\*\s{0,3}>\s{0,3}>\s{0,3}");

Any ideas? Kid regards!

Answer

You can use

<s{0,5}<s{0,5}*s{0,5}<(.*?)>s{0,5}>s{0,5}*s{0,5}>

See the regex demo.

In Java, define it as

String regex = "<\s{0,5}<\s{0,5}\*\s{0,5}<(.*?)>\s{0,5}>\s{0,5}\*\s{0,5}>";

If you plan to match multiple lines between the left and right parts use the Pattern.DOTALL option when compiling the pattern.

Details

• <s{0,5}<s{0,5}*s{0,5}< – < < * < with zero to five whitesapces between the symbols allowed
• (.*?) – Group 1: any zero or more chars as few as possible
• >s{0,5}>s{0,5}*s{0,5}> – > > * > substring with zero to five whitesapces between the symbols allowed.