RegEx question

[CB]

Trying to match the entire following object literal code using a RegEx.
var Punctuators = { '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }

Variations on the idea of using /var.*{.*}/ of course stops at the
first }. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

[Evertjan.]

CB wrote on 15 jun 2006 in comp.lang.javas cript:

Trying to match the entire following object literal code using a RegEx.
var Punctuators = { '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }

/var Punctuators = \{ \'\{\' : \'LeftCurly\', \'\}\' : \'RightCurly\' \}/
--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[CB]

Evertjan. wrote:

CB wrote on 15 jun 2006 in comp.lang.javas cript:

Trying to match the entire following object literal code using a RegEx.
var Punctuators = { '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }

/var Punctuators = \{ \'\{\' : \'LeftCurly\', \'\}\' : \'RightCurly\' \}/

Actually, my intention is to match everything within the { } of any
object literal. Considering that '}' string literals may be embedded.

[Evertjan.]

CB wrote on 15 jun 2006 in comp.lang.javas cript:

Evertjan. wrote:

CB wrote on 15 jun 2006 in comp.lang.javas cript:

> Trying to match the entire following object literal code using a
> RegEx. var Punctuators = { '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }
>

/var Punctuators = \{ \'\{\' : \'LeftCurly\', \'\}\' : \'RightCurly\'
\}/

Actually, my intention is to match everything within the { } of any
object literal. Considering that '}' string literals may be embedded.

RegEx matching can only be done on a string,
not on an object or on a any litteral.

Such string could be constructed from a string litteral,
but the matching is on the resulting string.

What has an object litteral to do with regEx?

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[CB]

> RegEx matching can only be done on a string,

not on an object or on a any litteral.

Such string could be constructed from a string litteral,
but the matching is on the resulting string.

What has an object litteral to do with regEx?

Sorry I'm not explaining this well. I'm only referring to matching a
string. The string just happens to be code for a obj literal. The
object that the literal describes is not relevant.

var a = "{ '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }";
var b = "{ '{' : 'A punctator', '}' : 'Another punctuator' }";

I'm looking for the RegEx that will match both the entire strings in
the variables a and b.

[Evertjan.]

CB wrote on 15 jun 2006 in comp.lang.javas cript:

RegEx matching can only be done on a string,
not on an object or on a any litteral.

Such string could be constructed from a string litteral,
but the matching is on the resulting string.

What has an object litteral to do with regEx?

Sorry I'm not explaining this well. I'm only referring to matching a
string. The string just happens to be code for a obj literal. The
object that the literal describes is not relevant.

var a = "{ '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }";
var b = "{ '{' : 'A punctator', '}' : 'Another punctuator' }";

I'm looking for the RegEx that will match both the entire strings in
the variables a and b.

/^.*$/.test(a)

/^.*$/.test(b)
Matching, I prefer to say testing, if a whole string is ment,
is not that difficult.

You would also have to define when the test should return false.

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

"CB" <bo*****@hotmai l.com> writes:

Sorry I'm not explaining this well. I'm only referring to matching a
string. The string just happens to be code for a obj literal. The
object that the literal describes is not relevant.

var a = "{ '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }";
var b = "{ '{' : 'A punctator', '}' : 'Another punctuator' }";

I'm looking for the RegEx that will match both the entire strings in
the variables a and b.

new RegExp(""); // :P

But seriously, you are only telling us half the specification by
saying that it must match these. We also need to know what it
shouldn't match.

Should it match strings that does not contain object literals?
Should it match strings containing any object literal, or only
those with single-quote delimited strings as key and value?
Should it match strings with objects literals with other than
two properties?

It's probably painfully obvious to you what you want (that's
when it's hardest to explain :), but try to explain in words,
concisely, what you want to match and what you don't.

An example matching only single-quote delimited strings as keys and
values, and any number of properties:

/^\{\s*('[^'\\]*(\\.[^'\\]*)*'\s*:\s*'[^'\\]*(\\.[^'\\]*)*'(\s*,\s*'[^'\\]*(\\.[^'\\]*)*'\s*:\s*'[^'\\]*(\\.[^'\\]*)*')*\s*)?\}/

Sometimes a single regular expression is *not* the way to go :)
Instead try writing a real parser.

/L
--
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen - lr*@hotpop.com
DHTML Death Colors: <URL:http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/rasterTriangleD OM.html>
'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine.'

[xicheng]

CB wrote:

RegEx matching can only be done on a string,
not on an object or on a any litteral.

Such string could be constructed from a string litteral,
but the matching is on the resulting string.

What has an object litteral to do with regEx?

Sorry I'm not explaining this well. I'm only referring to matching a
string. The string just happens to be code for a obj literal. The
object that the literal describes is not relevant.

var a = "{ '{' : 'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' }";
var b = "{ '{' : 'A punctator', '}' : 'Another punctuator' }";

I'm looking for the RegEx that will match both the entire strings in
the variables a and b.

not sure what you exactly wanted, but if you want to capture { '{' :
'LeftCurly', '}' : 'RightCurly' } in var a
, and
{ '{' : 'A punctator', '}' : 'Another punctuator' } in var b

and both keys and values are enclosed by single-quote, and meanwhile
different key-value pairs are separated by comma, then you might try
this pattern:

\{(?:\s*'[^']*'\s*:\s*'[^']*'\s*,?)*\s*\}

if you dont accept empty obj, like var a = "{ }", then change it to:

\{(?:\s*'[^']*'\s*:\s*'[^']*'\s*,?)+\}

if you can take '\'' as the key|value, then replace the above [^']*
with [^'\\]*(?:\\.[^'\\]*)* as shown in Lasse's example.

Xicheng
___
BTW. why not just use [^"]* or [^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*
:-)