Regex: match whole word

[MrNobody]

is there a simple way to make it so your regex only matches whole words?

i was thinking simply something like:

[^a-zA-Z0-9]*match_string[^a-zA-Z0-9]*

but then I think it would fail if the word was at the beginning or end of a
line?

[ibiza]

well...wouldn't

[\w]*

work?

MrNobody wrote:

is there a simple way to make it so your regex only matches whole words?

i was thinking simply something like:

[^a-zA-Z0-9]*match_string[^a-zA-Z0-9]*

but then I think it would fail if the word was at the beginning or end of a
line?

[Martin Z]

[\w]+ better - match any alphanumeric character group of length 1 or
more (* is zero or more).

ibiza wrote:

well...wouldn't

[\w]*

work?

MrNobody wrote:

is there a simple way to make it so your regex only matches whole words?

i was thinking simply something like:

[^a-zA-Z0-9]*match_string[^a-zA-Z0-9]*

but then I think it would fail if the word was at the beginning or end of a
line?

[Ben Voigt]

"MrNobody" <Mr******@discu ssions.microsof t.comwrote in message
news:5C******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

is there a simple way to make it so your regex only matches whole words?

i was thinking simply something like:

[^a-zA-Z0-9]*match_string[^a-zA-Z0-9]*

but then I think it would fail if the word was at the beginning or end of
a
line?

You want to use the "negative look-ahead" (and behind) construct.

[Greg Bacon]

In article <11************ *********@k70g2 000cwa.googlegr oups.com>,
Martin Z <ma***********@ gmail.comwrote:

: ibiza wrote:
:
: well...wouldn't
: >
: [\w]*
: >
: work?
:
: [\w]+ better - match any alphanumeric character group of length 1 or
: more (* is zero or more).

The brackets are redundant: \w+ does the job.

Greg
--
Until these powers are restored -- and the Fed, the income tax, and
the Seventeenth Amendment abolished -- Americans have no hope of ever
returning to a regime of constitutional liberty.
-- Thomas DiLorenzo

[Greg Bacon]

In article <5C************ *************** *******@microso ft.com>,
MrNobody <Mr******@discu ssions.microsof t.comwrote:

: is there a simple way to make it so your regex only matches whole
: words?
:
: i was thinking simply something like:
:
: [^a-zA-Z0-9]*match_string[^a-zA-Z0-9]*
:
: but then I think it would fail if the word was at the beginning or end
: of a line?

What's your idea of whole words?

You can use \b to match word boundaries, e.g., @"\bwhole words\b".

If I'm not on the right track, please illustrate with examples.

Greg
--
It should be noted that government is never so zealous in suppressing
crime as when that crime consists of direct injury to its own sources of
revenue, as in tax evasion and counterfeiting of its currency.
-- Murray Rothbard