Extract part of string between two different patterns

Question

I try to use stringr package to extract part of a string, which is between two particular patterns.

For example, I have:

my.string <         


        

Answer 1

In base R you can use gsub. The parentheses in the pattern create numbered capturing groups. Here we select the second group in the replacement, i.e. the group between the borders. The . matches any character. The * means that there is zero or more of the preceeding element

gsub(pattern = "(.*nana)(.*)(baba.*)",
     replacement = "\\2",
     x = "xxxnanaRisnicebabayyy")
# "Risnice"