Zig Requires Chilkat v11.1.0+

Regular Expression with Named Capture Groups

See more Regular Expressions Examples

Demonstrates regular expressions with named capture groups.

See the sample code below.

Note: Chilkat uses PCRE2. See PCRE2 Regular Expressions
Also see: PCRE2 Performance

In PCRE2, named capture groups allow you to assign a name to a capturing group, making it easier to reference by name instead of number.

Syntax

(?<name>pattern)

or

(?'name'pattern)

Example

(?<first>\w+)\s+(?<last>\w+)

Applied to:

"John Smith"

Produces:

• first: John
• last: Smith

Zig

const std = @import("std");
const chilkat = @import("chilkat");

pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
    const alloc = init.arena.allocator();

    const subject = "John Smith";
    const pattern = "(?<first>\\w+)\\s+(?<last>\\w+)";

    const sb = try chilkat.StringBuilder.init();
    defer sb.deinit();
    sb.append(subject) catch {};

    const json = try chilkat.JsonObject.init();
    defer json.deinit();
    json.setEmitCompact(false);

    const timeout_ms = 2000;
    const num_matches = sb.regexMatch(pattern, json, timeout_ms);
    if (num_matches < 0) {
        // Probably an error in the regular expression.
        // Suggestion: Use AI to help create and/or diagnose regular expressions.
        std.debug.print("{s}\n", .{try sb.getLastErrorText(alloc)});
        return;
    }

    // Examine the matches:
    std.debug.print("{s}\n", .{try json.emit(alloc)});

    // Here is the JSON showing the matches.
    // Important:  Capture group 0 always contains the entire match — that is, the portion of the input string that matches the full regular expression.

    // {
    //   "named": {
    //     "first": 1,
    //     "last": 2
    //   },
    //   "match": [
    //     {
    //       "group": [
    //         {
    //           "cap": "John Smith",
    //           "idx": 0,
    //           "len": 10
    //         },
    //         {
    //           "cap": "John",
    //           "idx": 0,
    //           "len": 4
    //         },
    //         {
    //           "cap": "Smith",
    //           "idx": 5,
    //           "len": 5
    //         }
    //       ]
    //     }
    //   ]
    // }

    // The capture group index is obtained by looking up the name in the JSON result.
    // For example:

    json.setI(json.intOf("named.first"));
    std.debug.print("first: {s}\n", .{try json.stringOf(alloc, "match[0].group[i].cap")});

    json.setI(json.intOf("named.last"));
    std.debug.print("last: {s}\n", .{try json.stringOf(alloc, "match[0].group[i].cap")});

    // Output is:

    // first: John
    // last: Smith
}