Multiline Regex Matching Issue

Question

I have the following string that I am trying to match via regex:

;IF TEST_DATE <= 200112 THEN E>=90 AND S>=90
 OR P = "25" ENDIF
IF TEST_DATE >= 200201 AND TEST_DATE < 200407 THEN E>=89
AND S>=90 OR P = "25" ENDIF

I am using the following regex in an attempt to match from the semicolon (intended to be a comment) until the first ENDIF:

;\s*IF (\d|\D)+ ENDIF

Unfortunately, this pattern matches all the way until the second ENDIF. I've tried various solutions using the Java Pattern.DOTALL, as well as the (?s) flag, with no luck.

Answer 1

You are using greedy quantifier, due to which your pattern (\\d|\\D) matches everything till it finds the last ENDIF .

You need to use reluctant quantifier - +? if you want your regex to stop matching at the first ENDIF : -

;\s*IF (\d|\D)+? ENDIF

Answer 2

使用非贪婪的限定词。

;\s*IF (\d|\D)*? ENDIF