Escaping problem using Regular Expression

[Henry]

I have this simple code,

string escaped = Regex.Escape( @"`~!@#$%^&*()_=+[]{}\|;:',<.>/?" + "\"" );
string input = @"a&+[b`${c}a'?sd:r]" + "\"" + @"@(-d)\e";
Regex re = new Regex( string.Format(@"([{0}]+)", escaped),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
string s = re.Replace( input, "" );

It doesn't seem to work, regular expression return without filter out any
character
However if I remove or change the position of "]" to be the first character,
it works.

string escaped = Regex.Escape( @"]`~!@#$%^&*()_=+[{}\|;:',<.>/?" + "\"" );

I totally do not understand how this regular expression escaping works. What
am I doing wrong here?

Thanks
Henry

[Niki Estner]

"Henry" <ig******@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:en**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

I have this simple code,

string escaped = Regex.Escape( @"`~!@#$%^&*()_=+[]{}\|;:',<.>/?" + "\"" );
string input = @"a&+[b`${c}a'?sd:r]" + "\"" + @"@(-d)\e";
Regex re = new Regex( string.Format(@"([{0}]+)", escaped),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
string s = re.Replace( input, "" );

Escaping rules within '[' ']''s are different: AFAIK only \], \- and control
characters (\r, \n...) have to be escaped in such a block.
It doesn't seem to work, regular expression return without filter out any
character

Try matching for new Regex(@"[`~!@#$%^&*()_=+[\]{}\|;:',<.>/?" ]+")
However if I remove or change the position of "]" to be the first character, it works.
Yep, in "normal" regex context "]" is not a metacharacter, so you don't have
to escape it. That is, "Escape(...)" won't escape it either. That should
explain it.
I totally do not understand how this regular expression escaping works. What am I doing wrong here?

Use "Escape(...)" if you match for an exact string. You can't put the
escaped sequence in a [..] block. That's it.

Niki

[Henry]

Thanks for answering.
Now I got it working. I modified my code as follows:

string excludeChars = @"`~!@#$%^&*()\-_=+[\]{}\\|;:',<.>/?\""";
string input = @"a&+[b`${c}a'?sd:r]" + "\"" + @"@(-d)\e";
Regex re = new Regex( string.Format(@"[{0}]+", excludeChars) );
string s = re.Replace( input, "" );
But I still don't really get what's the problem cause in my other code it
doesn't work as what my understanding.

string QuantifierRegex = @"(?=^[\w$#]{7,11}$)";
//string password = "`~!@#$%^&*";
string password = "abc4ddf";

Regex re1 = new Regex( QuantifierRegex );
bool isMatch1 = re1.IsMatch( password );

Regex re2 = new Regex( Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex) );
bool isMatch2 = re2.IsMatch( password );

bool isMatch3 = Regex.IsMatch( password, QuantifierRegex,
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
bool isMatch4 = Regex.IsMatch( password, Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );

From the sample above,
isMatch1 returns true
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns true
isMatch4 returns false

If I change the password variable to "`~!@#$%^&*"
isMatch1 returns false
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns false
isMatch4 returns false

Any idea?
Thanks
Henry

"Niki Estner" <ni*********@cube.net> wrote in message
news:uA*************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

"Henry" <ig******@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:en**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

I have this simple code,

string escaped = Regex.Escape( @"`~!@#$%^&*()_=+[]{}\|;:',<.>/?" + "\"" ); string input = @"a&+[b`${c}a'?sd:r]" + "\"" + @"@(-d)\e";
Regex re = new Regex( string.Format(@"([{0}]+)", escaped),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
string s = re.Replace( input, "" );

Escaping rules within '[' ']''s are different: AFAIK only \], \- and

control characters (\r, \n...) have to be escaped in such a block.

It doesn't seem to work, regular expression return without filter out any character

Try matching for new Regex(@"[`~!@#$%^&*()_=+[\]{}\|;:',<.>/?" ]+")

However if I remove or change the position of "]" to be the first

character,

it works.

Yep, in "normal" regex context "]" is not a metacharacter, so you don't

have to escape it. That is, "Escape(...)" won't escape it either. That should
explain it.

I totally do not understand how this regular expression escaping works.

What

am I doing wrong here?

Use "Escape(...)" if you match for an exact string. You can't put the
escaped sequence in a [..] block. That's it.

Niki

[Niki Estner]

"Henry" <ig******@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:ec**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

...
string QuantifierRegex = @"(?=^[\w$#]{7,11}$)";
//string password = "`~!@#$%^&*";
string password = "abc4ddf";

Regex re1 = new Regex( QuantifierRegex );
bool isMatch1 = re1.IsMatch( password );
re1 matches a string that consist of 7-11 characters, which may be
alphanumeric (\w), $ or #.
Don't know why you need the paranthesis.
Regex re2 = new Regex( Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex) );
re2 matches for literally "(?=^[\w$#]{7,11}$)"
bool isMatch2 = re2.IsMatch( password );

bool isMatch3 = Regex.IsMatch( password, QuantifierRegex,
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
bool isMatch4 = Regex.IsMatch( password, Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );

From the sample above,
isMatch1 returns true
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns true
isMatch4 returns false

If I change the password variable to "`~!@#$%^&*"
isMatch1 returns false
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns false
isMatch4 returns false

Any idea?

Yes.
Looks correct.
What did you think it should do?

Niki

[Henry H]

Thanks for answering.
Now I got it working. I modified my code as follows:

string excludeChars = @"`~!@#$%^&*()\-_=+[\]{}\\|;:',<.>/?\""";
string input = @"a&+[b`${c}a'?sd:r]" + "\"" + @"@(-d)\e";
Regex re = new Regex( string.Format(@"[{0}]+", excludeChars) );
string s = re.Replace( input, "" );
But I still don't really get what's the problem cause in my other code
it doesn't work as what my understanding.

string QuantifierRegex = @"(?=^[\w$#]{7,11}$)";
//string password = "`~!@#$%^&*";
string password = "abc4ddf";

Regex re1 = new Regex( QuantifierRegex );
bool isMatch1 = re1.IsMatch( password );

Regex re2 = new Regex( Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex) );
bool isMatch2 = re2.IsMatch( password );

bool isMatch3 = Regex.IsMatch( password, QuantifierRegex,
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
bool isMatch4 = Regex.IsMatch( password, Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );

From the sample above,
isMatch1 returns true
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns true
isMatch4 returns false

If I change the password variable to "`~!@#$%^&*"
isMatch1 returns false
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns false
isMatch4 returns false

Any idea?
Thanks
Henry

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[Henry]

Well, I totally forgot the (\w), $ or #. expression due to the 20 hours I'm
working on the project in a row.

Thanks so much

"Niki Estner" <ni*********@cube.net> wrote in message
news:eJ**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

"Henry" <ig******@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:ec**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

...
string QuantifierRegex = @"(?=^[\w$#]{7,11}$)";
//string password = "`~!@#$%^&*";
string password = "abc4ddf";

Regex re1 = new Regex( QuantifierRegex );
bool isMatch1 = re1.IsMatch( password );

re1 matches a string that consist of 7-11 characters, which may be
alphanumeric (\w), $ or #.
Don't know why you need the paranthesis.

Regex re2 = new Regex( Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex) );

re2 matches for literally "(?=^[\w$#]{7,11}$)"

bool isMatch2 = re2.IsMatch( password );

bool isMatch3 = Regex.IsMatch( password, QuantifierRegex,
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );
bool isMatch4 = Regex.IsMatch( password, Regex.Escape(QuantifierRegex),
RegexOptions.CultureInvariant );

From the sample above,
isMatch1 returns true
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns true
isMatch4 returns false

If I change the password variable to "`~!@#$%^&*"
isMatch1 returns false
isMatch2 returns false
isMatch3 returns false
isMatch4 returns false

Any idea?

Yes.
Looks correct.
What did you think it should do?

Niki