Regex.Matches. This function uses a pattern argument. It searches the source String to find all matches to that pattern. It returns Match objects as part of a MatchCollection.
Function uses. Regex.Matches is useful for complex text processing. It can be used instead of Match() when more than one match is expected.
This program imports the System.Text.RegularExpressions namespace. In Main, we use the Regex.Matches method on a String literal containing several words starting with "s".
Then In a nested loop, we enumerate all the Capture instances. We access the Index and Value from each Capture.
Note Each capture has an Index (the character position of the capture in the source string) and a Value (the matching substring itself).
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Module Module1
Sub Main()
' Input string.
Dim value As String = "said shed see spear spread super"' Call Regex.Matches method.
Dim matches As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(value, "s\w+d")
' Loop over matches.
For Each m As Match In matches
' Loop over captures.
For Each c As Capture In m.Captures
' Display.
Console.WriteLine("Index={0}, Value={1}", c.Index, c.Value)
Next
Next
End Sub
End ModuleIndex=0, Value=said
Index=5, Value=shed
Index=20, Value=spread
Regex.Match. The Regex.Matches function is basically the same as the Regex.Match function except that it returns all matches rather than just the first one.
So If you need to find more than just one match, Regex.Matches is the best function to choose.
A summary. With Regex.Matches, you can find all the matching parts in a source string with a regular expression pattern. You need to then loop over all the individual matches.
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This page was last updated on Jan 14, 2024 (edit link).