how to match parentheses with regex in c# [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Regular Expression to match outer brackets

I'm trying to match a string that contains parentheses but escaping the parentheses with a backslash gives me an error "unrecognized escape sequence". How do i match the parenthesis and retrieve whats inside?

You cannot match balanced parenthesis with a regexp (which is a finite state automaton, but balancing parenthesis requires more, e.g. a stack or counting automaton which have an infinite set of states). — Basile Starynkevitch
– Basile Starynkevitch, Commented Oct 2, 2012 at 6:38
You should be able to escape parentheses with a backslash, perhaps you could provide us with some code that you have tried? — Eyvind
– Eyvind, Commented Oct 2, 2012 at 6:40
all i need is a simple "text text text (stuff i need to get) text text" it doesnt need to have nested parenthesis or anything i just cant figure out how to get it to match one single parentheses character without giving me the unrecognized escape sequence error — Max
– Max, Commented Oct 2, 2012 at 6:41
the code ive tried looks pretty much like this: "((\"([^\"]+)\"))". The backslash escapes the double quote fine but it doesnt work when i try to put a backslash in front of the parenthesis — Max
– Max, Commented Oct 2, 2012 at 6:43
@BasileStarynkevitch: Actually, .NET regexes can match balanced parentheses correctly, using (?<DEPTH>) and (?<-DEPTH>) counters. — Tim Pietzcker
– Tim Pietzcker, Commented Oct 2, 2012 at 6:43

user1703809 · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-02 06:39:49Z

0

use Regex.Escape(): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.text.regularexpressions.regex.escape.aspx

answered Oct 2, 2012 at 6:39

user1703809

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2 Comments

Max Over a year ago

How would i go about distinguishing between the parenthesis i expect in the string and the parenthesis that are telling the regex what I want to return from the string?

user1703809 Over a year ago

something like string pattern = Regex.Escape("[") + "(.*?)]"; you can get more from the link i provided.

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