Regex to match specified number of characters with white spaces in between

Question

I am trying to match a pattern where it should be 10 character long and shall have spaces in between.

2021.11.17 12:41:56.124, #cef4df4e CB 1111: Field value 0 for field is out of numeric range according to AABCAKKA01 from ABCD  1111
2021.11.17 12:42:57.225, #cef4df4e BC 1234: Field value 0 for field is out of numeric range according to AABCAKKB02
2021.11.17 12:42:57.421, #cef4df4e CC 1231: This is from JDBS   234 according to AABCAKKB02
2021.11.17 12:42:58.125, #cef4df4e AC 1224: Field value 0 for field is out of numeric range according to AABCAKKB02 from JDBS    11

When I try the below regex, I am able to match the necessary, but also matching the pattern I do not want (which is still right, but I want to get rid of those matches).

\s+([A-Z0-9 ]{10})

I want to match only "ABCD 1111", "JDBS 234" and "JDBS 11". But I am also getting "AABCAKKB02" and "AABCAKKA01"

Any suggestion or help please? Thank you.

Answer 1

You may use this regex:

\b(?=[A-Z\d ]{10}\b)[A-Z]+(?: +[A-Z\d]+)*\b

RegEx Demo

RegEx Details:

• \b : Word boundary
• (?=.{10}\b) : Lookahead to assert that we have 10 characters of alphanumerics or spaces ahead of the current position
• [AZ]+ : Match 1+ uppercase letter
• (?: +[AZ\d]+)* : Match 1+ spaces followed by 1+ of alphanumerics. Repeat this group 0 or more times.
• \b : Word boundary

Answer 2

With your shown samples only, please try following regex. This uses PCRE regex concepts of lazy match .*? and \K option(to forget previous matched values; so that we get only matched ones).

.*?from\s+\K[A-Za-z \d]{10}

Online demo for above regex

Explanation: Adding detailed explanation for above.

.*?from\s+\K    ##Matching everything(as a lazy match) till from(word) followed by spaces(1 or more occurrences)
                ##then using \K option to forget this match to get only next matched values in output.
[A-Za-z \d]{10} ##Matching capital/small letters with space and digits 10 in numbers here as per OP's requirement.