RegEx to extract all matches from string using RegExp.exec

Question

I\'m trying to parse the following kind of string:

[key:\"val\" key2:\"val2\"]

where there are arbitrary key:\"val\" pairs inside. I want t

Answer 1

My guess is that if there would be edge cases such as extra or missing spaces, this expression with less boundaries might also be an option:

^\s*\[\s*([^\s\r\n:]+)\s*:\s*"([^"]*)"\s*([^\s\r\n:]+)\s*:\s*"([^"]*)"\s*\]\s*$

---

If you wish to explore/simplify/modify the expression, it's been explained on the top right panel of regex101.com. If you'd like, you can also watch in this link, how it would match against some sample inputs.

---

Test

const regex = /^\s*\[\s*([^\s\r\n:]+)\s*:\s*"([^"]*)"\s*([^\s\r\n:]+)\s*:\s*"([^"]*)"\s*\]\s*$/gm;
const str = `[description:"aoeu" uuid:"123sth"]
[description : "aoeu" uuid: "123sth"]
[ description : "aoeu" uuid: "123sth" ]
 [ description : "aoeu"   uuid : "123sth" ]
 [ description : "aoeu"uuid  : "123sth" ] `;
let m;

while ((m = regex.exec(str)) !== null) {
    // This is necessary to avoid infinite loops with zero-width matches
    if (m.index === regex.lastIndex) {
        regex.lastIndex++;
    }
    
    // The result can be accessed through the `m`-variable.
    m.forEach((match, groupIndex) => {
        console.log(`Found match, group ${groupIndex}: ${match}`);
    });
}

RegEx Circuit

jex.im visualizes regular expressions: