Hello everyone.
I would like to craft an expression to find lines that contain pattern_2 NOT
preceded by pattern_1
(with pattern_1 not necessarily IMMEDIATELY to the left of pattern_2).
This is the catch, so let me repeat it with emphasis on IMMEDIATELY:
with pattern_1 not necessarily IMMEDIATELY to the left of pattern_2
For instance: pattern_1 and pattern_2 distributed thus are of no interest to me:
pattern_1 immediately preceding pattern_2: pattern_1pattern_2
A blank between pattern_1 and pattern_2: pattern_1 pattern_2
Some stuff between pattern_1 and pattern_2: pattern_1 with Some stuff and
then pattern_2
On the other hand, this is a line of interest that has pattern_2 but absolutely
no pattern_1 anywhere before:
Some stuff (possibly nothing) and then pattern_2
I want the results of my ideal expression to report ONLY the last line in this
example:
pattern_1pattern_2
pattern_1 pattern_2
pattern_1 with Some stuff and then pattern_2
Some stuff (possibly nothing) and then pattern_2
I tried:
(?<!pattern_1)pattern_2
This half-succeeds:
it doesn't find the first line and it finds the last line
but half-fails:
it finds the second and third lines.
I tried::
(?<!pattern_1).*?pattern_2
This finds ALL the lines, so it fully fails. This is certainly NOT the behavior
I want.
Lookbehind seems to work only if its pattern precedes another pattern
IMMEDIATELY
(which sounds to me like an extreme cased of non-greedy behavior).
Any tricks to making Lookbehind "greedy" ?
Even better: Any wise advice regarding SOME simple way to specify what I want?
Find lines that contain pattern_2 NOT preceded by pattern_1
(with pattern_1 not necessarily IMMEDIATELY to the left of pattern_2).
Thanks!
Alfredo
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