Substring matched by regex

Substring matched by regex

[Aaron Maxwell]

In a function, how do I get the value of a string matched by a regex?

In a function I'm writing, I need to parse the first bit of text matching a 
certain regex prior to point.  re-search-backward will get the start and end 
positions of that string (accessible to me via match-data), but I need a 
function that will get the actual text as a string.  Something 
like "str-from-current-buffer" in this snippet:

(defun fetch-text-to-parse ()
  (interactive)
  (save-excursion
    (progn
      (re-search-backward "regexp.to.match")
      (str-from-current-buffer (car (match-data)) (cadr (match-data))))))

copy-region-as-kill will kind of work, but it smells like a hack and (more 
importantly) pollutes the kill ring.  Could someone point me to a good way to 
do what I'm trying to do here?

Thanks much.

-- 
Aaron Maxwell
http://redsymbol.net

Business Owners and Self-Employed:  You're NOT Alone!
The Business Butler - http://businessbutler.us

Re: Substring matched by regex

[Nikos Apostolakis]

Aaron Maxwell <amax@redsymbol.net> writes:

> In a function, how do I get the value of a string matched by a regex?
>

Is `match-string' what you're looking for?

,----[ C-h f match-string RET ]
| match-string is a compiled Lisp function in `subr.el'.
| (match-string NUM &optional STRING)
| 
| Return string of text matched by last search.
| NUM specifies which parenthesized expression in the last regexp.
|  Value is nil if NUMth pair didn't match, or there were less than NUM pairs.
| Zero means the entire text matched by the whole regexp or whole string.
| STRING should be given if the last search was by `string-match' on STRING.
| 
| [back]
`----

Nikos

> Thanks much.
>

Re: Substring matched by regex

[Ralf Angeli]

* Aaron Maxwell (2008-01-13) writes:

> In a function, how do I get the value of a string matched by a regex?

match-string

See (info "(elisp)Simple Match Data").

-- 
Ralf

Re: Substring matched by regex

[Aaron Maxwell]

On Sunday 13 January 2008 01:13:54 Nikos Apostolakis wrote:
> Aaron Maxwell <amax@redsymbol.net> writes:
> > In a function, how do I get the value of a string matched by a regex?
> Is `match-string' what you're looking for?

Yes, that's exactly it.  Surprised I missed it.  Ralf and Nikos, thank you.

-- 
Aaron Maxwell
http://redsymbol.net

Business Owners and Self-Employed:  You're NOT Alone!
The Business Butler - http://businessbutler.us