How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Mirko]

Hello,

how does one write the regular expression search (in elisp) to look
for
^"*Nanotechnology*"$

(The string is inclosed by *'s and these are the only characters on
the line.

My attempt
(re-search-forward "\*[a-zA-Z ]+\*")
fails.

Also, if you could (please) show me how to use the [:alpha:]
construct.

Thank you very much.

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Mirko]

On Sep 5, 8:32 am, Mirko <mvuko...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> how does one write the regular expression search (in elisp) to look
> for
> ^"*Nanotechnology*"$
>
> (The string is inclosed by *'s and these are the only characters on
> the line.
>
> My attempt
> (re-search-forward "\*[a-zA-Z ]+\*")
> fails.
>
> Also, if you could (please) show me how to use the [:alpha:]
> construct.
>
> Thank you very much.

To clarify, the above string is only an example.  Instead of
Nanotechnology (which is a journal name),
it could be some other string enclosed by *'s.

Mirko

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Daniel Jensen]

Mirko <mvukovic@nycap.rr.com> writes:

> My attempt
> (re-search-forward "\*[a-zA-Z ]+\*")
> fails.

Remember to use double backslashes in regexp string literals. The
backslash is an escape character in strings, so you need to use "\\" to
embed a backslash character in the string.

Or you could use rx, which provides a symbolic regexp syntax:

    (rx "*" (one-or-more (in alpha space)) "*")

Some find it easier to use.

> Also, if you could (please) show me how to use the [:alpha:]
> construct.

[[:alpha:]]

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Mirko]

On Sep 5, 9:13 am, dan...@bigwalter.net (Daniel Jensen) wrote:
> Mirko <mvuko...@nycap.rr.com> writes:
> > My attempt
> > (re-search-forward "\*[a-zA-Z ]+\*")
> > fails.
>
> Remember to use double backslashes in regexp string literals. The
> backslash is an escape character in strings, so you need to use "\\" to
> embed a backslash character in the string.
>
> Or you could use rx, which provides a symbolic regexp syntax:
>
>     (rx "*" (one-or-more (in alpha space)) "*")
>
> Some find it easier to use.
>
> > Also, if you could (please) show me how to use the [:alpha:]
> > construct.
>
> [[:alpha:]]

Thank you Daniel.

I also made some progress.  Most of the mistakes were mine (too
numerous and embarrassing to list here)

Mirko

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Stephen Berman]

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:32:22 -0700 Mirko <mvukovic@nycap.rr.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> how does one write the regular expression search (in elisp) to look
> for
> ^"*Nanotechnology*"$
>
> (The string is inclosed by *'s and these are the only characters on
> the line.
>
> My attempt
> (re-search-forward "\*[a-zA-Z ]+\*")
> fails.

You need to escape the the backslashes for the Lisp reader to recognize
their use as an escape character in the regular expression:

(re-search-forward "^\\*[a-zA-Z ]+\\*$")

> Also, if you could (please) show me how to use the [:alpha:]
> construct.

(re-search-forward "^\\*[[:alpha:]]+\\*$")

Steve Berman

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Eric Hanchrow]

>>>>> "Mirko" == Mirko  <mvukovic@nycap.rr.com> writes:

    Mirko> Hello, how does one write the regular expression search (in
    Mirko> elisp) to look for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

(rx bos "*Nanotechnology*" eos)

-- 
Keaton, Chaplin, Garbo - let them now make room for Gromit.
        A. O. Scott, in The New York Times

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Mirko]

On Sep 5, 9:32 am, Eric Hanchrow <off...@blarg.net> wrote:
> >>>>> "Mirko" == Mirko  <mvuko...@nycap.rr.com> writes:
>
>     Mirko> Hello, how does one write the regular expression search (in
>     Mirko> elisp) to look for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$
>
> (rx bos "*Nanotechnology*" eos)
>
> --
> Keaton, Chaplin, Garbo - let them now make room for Gromit.
>         A. O. Scott, in The New York Times

Thank you very much to all.  I am doing OK now without rx, but I will
take a look at it.

Mirko

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Eric Hanchrow]

>>>>> "Mirko" == Mirko  <mvukovic@nycap.rr.com> writes:

    Mirko> I am doing OK now without rx ...

You just _think_ you are.

Seriously, I think "rx" is one of the best little-known features of
Emacs; _almost_ any regular expression can be written _much_ more
clearly with it.  One caveat, though, is that the version in Emacs 22
has lots more bells and whistles than the version in Emacs 21, so if
portability is important to you, limit yourself to the Emacs 21
features (which are _still_ a huge improvement over writing them
"raw").

-- 
Keaton, Chaplin, Garbo - let them now make room for Gromit.
        A. O. Scott, in The New York Times

Re: How to re-search for ^"*Nanotechnology*"$

[Mirko]

On Sep 5, 5:41 pm, Eric Hanchrow <off...@blarg.net> wrote:
> >>>>> "Mirko" == Mirko  <mvuko...@nycap.rr.com> writes:
>
>     Mirko> I am doing OK now without rx ...
>
> You just _think_ you are.
>
> Seriously, I think "rx" is one of the best little-known features of
> Emacs; _almost_ any regular expression can be written _much_ more
> clearly with it.  One caveat, though, is that the version in Emacs 22
> has lots more bells and whistles than the version in Emacs 21, so if
> portability is important to you, limit yourself to the Emacs 21
> features (which are _still_ a huge improvement over writing them
> "raw").
>
> --
> Keaton, Chaplin, Garbo - let them now make room for Gromit.
>         A. O. Scott, in The New York Times

Well, what peaked my attention was the "_much_ more clearly" bit.I
will take a look at it then.

Mirko