Hi folks, resending this just in case someone has a clue (a similar question involving backreferences on substitutions surfaced a couple of days ago). Just to clarify a little further:
if I execute RE regexp = new RE("<([:alnum:]+)[^>]*>([^<]*)</\1>", RE.MATCH_CASEINDEPENDENT | RE.MATCH_MULTILINE); System.out.println(regexp.subst("<tag1>this text</tag1> should <tag2>remain untouched</tag2>", "\2", RE.REPLACE_ALL)); I would expect to see text with tags removed, since backref \1 would match against each tag, and \2 would match with text between tags. Instead, I see should (with one space before and another after) The funny thing is that regexp.getParen(1) equals "tag1", and regexp.getParen(2) equals "this text". The result above (" should "), however, is nowhere close to what I would expect. Is there anyway to do what I want? TIA Andre ---------- Begin forwarded message: ---------- Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 20:48:28 -0300 From: Andre Costa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: REGEXP user ML <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Backreferences on substitution? Hi all, it seems the archives are unreachable, so I will fire this question without having first searched for an existing answer... please bear with newbie ignorance ;) Is it possible to specify backreferences on substitution patterns? The probl is: I would like to get rid of some tags but leave their content untouched. This pattern correctly catches data on the form <tag ...>data</tag>: <([:alpha:]+)[^>]*>([^<]*)</\1> However, if I want to use it on a text where it appears multiple times with RE.subst(), how do I pass a backreference to the second capture to the 'substitution' parameter? For example, this text <tag1>this text</tag1> should <tag2>remain untouched</tag2> should become this text should remain untouched Any clues? What am I missing? TIA Andre -- Andre Oliveira da Costa --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- End of forwarded message ---------- -- Andre Oliveira da Costa --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]