Get the first word of a string using RegEx

Question

I am trying to match the first word in a string with RegEx.

I know how to match the 1st word if the 1st character string is a word, but the problem is when my line starts; eg.

^([\w\-]+)

Works with

This is my sentence.

but not with

; This is my sentence

My goal is to combine the 1st word

This

No matter what character before.

Thank.

+3

Miloš Feb 11 '14 at 12:35

4 answers

Try this template:

^\W*([\w-]+)

(^) - (\W*) , (([\w-]+)).

+4

Marius Schulz 11 . '14 12:38

If your language supports lookbehind

(?<=^\W*?)([\w\-]+)

will only fit what you need without playing with groups

Otherwise, Marius Schulz’s answer will do the job!

+3

Nyx Feb 11 '14 at 12:41

Try this link http://www.regular-expressions.info/wordboundaries.html There is something called word boundaries in regex

-1

Priyatam roy Feb 11 '14 at 12:45

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-11T12:36:19+0000

You should use this:

\b([\w-]+)\b

Anchor ^is a problem that forces you to match words only when begging. This should be replaced by \b(word boundary).