use strict;
my $str = 'explore: character_balance {}
explore: tower_ends {
label: "Tower Results"
join: activity_type {
relationship: many_to_one
type: inner
sql_on: ${activity_type.activity_name}=${wba_fact_activity.activity_name} ;;
}
}
explore: seven11_core_session_start {}';
my $regex = qr/(?xms)
( # group 1
\b explore:
[^\S\r\n]* # optional horizontal whitespaces
[^\n{]* # possible content of the same line
# followed by two possibilities
(?: # the content stops at the end of the line with a ;
; [^\S\r\n]* $
| # or it contains curly brackets and spreads over eventually multiple lines
( # group 2
{
[^{}"]*+ # all that isn't curly brackets nor double quotes
(?:
" [^\\"]*+ (?: \\. [^\\"]* )*+ " # contents between quotes
[^{}"]*
|
(?2) # nested curly brackets, recursion in the group 2
[^{}"]*
)*+
}
)
)
)/p;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html