Extracting Text Between Brackets with Regex

Question

In sentences like:

\"[x] Alpha

[33] Beta\"

I extract an array of bracketed data as ([x], [33])

using VBA regex Pattern:

\"(\\         


        

Answer 1

Use capturing around the subpatterns that will fetch you your required value.

Use

"\[(x)\]|\[(\d*)\]"

(or \d+ if you need to match at least 1 digit, as * means zero or more occurrences, and + means one or more occurrences).

Or, use the generic pattern to extract anything inside the square brackets without the brackets:

"\[([^\][]+)]"

Then, access the right Submatches index by checking the submatch length (since you have an alternation, either of the submatch will be empty), and there you go. Just change your for loop with

For Each oMatch In .Execute(SourceString)
    ReDim Preserve arrMatches(lngCount)
    If Len(oMatch.SubMatches(0)) > 0 Then
        arrMatches(lngCount) = oMatch.SubMatches(0)
    Else
        arrMatches(lngCount) = oMatch.SubMatches(1)
    End If
    ' Debug.Print arrMatches(lngCount) ' - This outputs x and 33 with your data
    lngCount = lngCount + 1
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