Regex, file. Suppose we have a file, like a server log file, and want to read in each line and match a part of the line. The Regex.Match method, and StreamReader, can be used.
With a While-loop, we can enumerate each line in the file. Then we extract matching parts with the Groups property on the Match. This returns a string value.
An example. Here we have a log file, contained in log.txt, and we access this in the StreamReader when we create it. We create a Regex that matches a certain URL pattern.
Tip For Groups, make sure to access the group at index 1 for the first group. We do not access the first element at index 0.
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Module Module1
Sub Main()
' Create Regex.
Dim regex As Regex = New Regex("\s/Content/([a-zA-Z0-9\-]+?)\.aspx")
' Loop over the lines in this text file.
Using reader As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\programs\log.txt")
While (True)
Dim line As String = reader.ReadLine()
' End if Nothing.
If line = Nothing Then
Return
End If
' Try to match.
Dim match As Match = regex.Match(line)
If match.Success Then
' Get first group and print it.
Dim value As String = match.Groups(1).Value
Console.WriteLine(line)
Console.WriteLine("... " + value)
End If
End While
End Using
End Sub
End Module2008-10-16 23:56:44 W3SVC2915713 GET /Content/String.aspx - 80 66.249
2008-10-16 23:59:50 W3SVC2915713 GET /Content/Trim-String-Regex.aspx - 80 66.2492008-10-16 23:56:44 W3SVC2915713 GET /Content/String.aspx - 80 66.249
... String
2008-10-16 23:59:50 W3SVC2915713 GET /Content/Trim-String-Regex.aspx - 80 66.249
... Trim-String-Regex
Notes, results. See how the part after the "Content" part of the URLs is matched. A specific part of the file names is extracted with Regex.
A summary. Regex is often used with StreamReader to match each line in a file. Parts of each line can be extracted and stored in the remainder of the VB.NET program.
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Sam Allen is passionate about computer languages. In the past, his work has been recommended by Apple and Microsoft and he has studied computers at a selective university in the United States.