Regex to match one or more characters

Question

I need to filter a set of strings with a wildcard-type search, like the following:

• Looking for He*lo should match "Hello", but not "Helo"
• Looking for *ant should match "pant" and "want" but not "ant"
• Looking for *yp* should match "gypsy" and "typical"

The * represents one or more characters. I don't mind a handwritten or regex-based search. Any ideas? The typical .NET approach for wildcards matches 0 or more, but I need 1 or more characters. How can I do this?

Solution 1

What you're looking for is the + regex operator

Solution 2

You want the .

For example: he.lo will match your hello, but not helo.

same goes for the rest.

You can easily test it here: http://regexpal.com/.

Do note that .yp. will not match typical nor gypsy, but `.yp.+' will (because of the rest of the characters)

Comments

[MarcinJuraszek]

+ means 1 or more in regex. You can use that.

[King King]

+ is not an operator, it's a quantifier

[arpl]

and quantifiers are not operators?

[arpl]

quantifier is a better word I guess thanks. From what I've googled though it's used interchangeably in regex literature.