LinuxQuestions.org - regexp question: first instance for each line

- Programming (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/programming-9/)

- - regexp question: first instance for each line (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/programming-9/regexp-question-first-instance-for-each-line-425592/)

regexp question: first instance for each line

So I have some text like:

Code:

Identification_Information:

  Citation:

    Citation_Information:

      Originator: Shmo, Joe

      Originator: Shmoe, Jan

      Publication_Date: 092005

      Title: Some Title Goes Here

      Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: map

      Series_Information:

        Series_Name: Report

        Issue_Identification: PIR 2005-6

      Publication_Information:

        Publication_Place: Backwoods, USA

        Publisher: Department of Natural Resources

      Other_Citation_Details: 15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000

      Online_Linkage: http://www.bananas.org

and I want to list the first instance, in each line, of a word ending with a ":", and beginning with a capital letter. So far I have:

Code:

(\w?[A-Z][a-z].+:)

Which gives:

Code:

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

Originator:

Publication_Date:

Title:

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:

Series_Information:

Series_Name:

Issue_Identification:

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place:

Publisher:

Other_Citation_Details: 15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:

Online_Linkage: http:

I need to get rid of the " 15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:" and " http:" in the last two lines. Any help would greatly appreciated.

Code:

(\w?[A-Z][a-z].+?:)

i think the ? should stop it after the first match..

edit> actually this should do it..

Code:

(.+?:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by xhi

Code:

(\w?[A-Z][a-z].+?:)

i think the ? should stop it after the first match..

edit> actually this should do it..

Code:

(.+?:)

Thanks for the quick response.

Code:

(.+?:)

gives me:

Code:

Supplemental_Information:

(contact information below). web site (http:

Process_Description:

environment to a 1:

Other_Citation_Details:

15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:

Online_Linkage: http:

for the text:

Supplemental_Information: (contact information below). web site (http://www.
Process_Description: environment to a 1:250,000 topographic basemap.
Other_Citation_Details: 15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000
Online_Linkage: http://www.

which is close. I still need to get rid of any other text beyond the first colon. I tried placing:

Code:

{1}

after the colon, but no luck.

Here's my last attempt before I hit the sack...

Code:

(\w?[A-Z][a-z].+[a-z]:[^//0-9])

which takes care of the four troublesome lines I mentioned above and gives me

Code:

Supplemental_Information:

Process_Description:

Other_Citation_Details:

Online_Linkage:

but not for the text:

Ordering: Order by phone, Payment accepted: Cash, check, money order, VISA, or MasterCard

which is still:

Code:

Ordering: Order by phone, Payment accepted:

Almost...

Using sed i get this:

Code:

$ sed -n 's/\ *\([A-Z][^:]*:\).*/\1/p' file

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

Originator:

Publication_Date:

Title:

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:

Series_Information:

Series_Name:

Issue_Identification:

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place:

Publisher:

Other_Citation_Details:

Online_Linkage:

Does that work?

Quote:

Originally Posted by buldir

Thanks for the quick response.

Code:

(.+?:)

gives me:

Code:

Supplemental_Information:

(contact information below). web site (http:

Process_Description:

environment to a 1:

Other_Citation_Details:

15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:

Online_Linkage: http:

Code:

{1}

after the colon, but no luck.

oops .. should have anchored it to the start of the string..

Code:

^(.+?:)

see if that works.. what lang is this btw?

Thanks muha and xhi. This problem wasn't related to any specific language. I needed a regexp to highlight all elements in a metadata file using the program EditPad Pro.

Code:

^(.+?:)

works great. I couldn't use sed because the program only supports regular expressions. I was testing the regular expression in another program called Expresso, but because I forgot to check the "Multiline" options box, the "^" at the beginning of the regexp was not applied to every line, but the entire string. After I checked the option, the regexp that xhi suggested worked like a charm. Thanks again to you both.