I have the following string

abc123 InterestingValue def456

I want to get the InterestingValue only, I am using this regex

\ .*\ 

but the output it still includes the characters

Is there a way to search for a string between the characters, then search again for anything that is not a character?

CodePudding user response：

Use lookarounds.

(?<=\ )[^ ]*(?=\ )

DEMO

CodePudding user response：

If it should be the first match, you can use a capture group with an anchor:

^[^ ]*\ ([^ ] )\ 

• ^ Start of string
• [^ ]* Optionally match any char except using a negated character class
• \ Match literally
• ([^ ] ) Capture group 1, match 1 chars other than
• \ Match literally

Regex demo

CodePudding user response：

You can use a positive lookahead and a positive lookbehind (more info about these here). Basically, a positive lookbehind tells the engine "this match has to come before the next match", and a positive lookahead tells the engine "this has to come after the previous match". Neither of them actually match the pattern they're looking for though.

A positive lookbehind is a group beginning with ?<= and a positive lookahead is a group beginning with ?=. Adding these to your existing expression would look like this:

(?<=\ ).*(?=\ )

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