[Shoсkwave]

Hey guys this tutorial I will be showing you how to get nearly any value from a website using a regex function.


The function:

Code

Public Shared Function RegexMatch(ByVal Text As String, ByVal Regexstring As String) As MatchCollection
            Dim r As New System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex(Regexstring)
            Dim matches As MatchCollection = r.Matches(Text.Trim)
            Return matches
    End Function

Usage:

Code

For Each m As Match In RegexMatch(SourceCode, RegexString)
        MsgBox(m.value)
Next

Say we want to get a fresh proxy list from
http://www.xroxy.com/proxylist.php

We want to get the highlighted value here:
Spoiler (Click to View)

It is really simple using this function, so we get the page source either from grabbing it with a webrequest/webclient or just copying the source into a richtextbox, either way.

So here is how it is done, we see before the proxy and port there is this:

Code

proxy:name=XROXY proxy&host=121.52.210.22&port=28889

So to get all values that look like this our function will look something like this:

the ".*" means anything can be there so we grab all strings like that.
Now if we set the value's that we have just grabbed into a richtextbox it should look like this:
Spoiler (Click to View)
We have grabbed the ips but it is a mess, we have to format it using the Split() function, it is quite self explanatory, this is what our function should look like now:

And we have now successfully extracted the strings in ip/port format.


If you have any questions or problems let me know, thanks guys.

[marvinn]

You.should use groups so you do not need to split all the data again.

[Weakky.]

You.should use groups so you do not need to split all the data again.

This. Just use (.*) to create a groups then just use

Code

MsgBox(m.Groups(1).Value)

[Shoсkwave]

This. Just use (.*) to create a groups then just use

Code

MsgBox(m.Groups(1).Value)

I didn't know about that man, thanks alot.

[marvinn]

You can even use this

Code

var reg = new Regex(proxy&host=(.*)&port=(.*))
foreach(var match in reg.Matches(source))
{
  string ip = match.groups[1].Value;
  string port = match.groups[2].Value;
}

An other tip, check http://regexpal.com
That helps a lot ;)

[Giommi]

Thanks ! I really need this for my Projects in Future Ty so much!

[evol]

Arrh Regex the one thing that turns my brain to mush thanks for the easy to follow tutorial. 🙂

[Gr0wlit]

Pretty cool, thanks for this sharing. Now i'm using the nice 'GetBetween' function, but i've tried this one, and i think to switch to this one! Thanks!

[aTastyUnicorn]

Can you upload again the pictures, please.

[Pussy Cat]

If you're just getting value between something such as this, Split would be faster compared to Regex. Regex isn't just about .*, if you're just gonna use .* everywhere then you don't really need to use regex.

[0dayleet]

Pretty awesome tutorial, thank you for posting it! :D

[Cairns]

This is kinda useless using both split and regex, it's best to use one or the other. Regex is a good bit faster if you know how to write proper patterns. In this case you should have just used split

[Pussy Cat]

This is kinda useless using both split and regex, it's best to use one or the other. Regex is a good bit faster if you know how to write proper patterns. In this case you should have just used split

This.

Regular split is usually faster performance-wise compared to Regex in most cases, sometimes the split just isn't enough though and we have to use Regex.

[Cairns]

I have coded a bot in the past that has harvested up to 1000s of links per page. I tried splitting them each time and it was okay the speed. I used regex to test its speed and found that regex ran much better. But I suppose it can change in most cases

[Pussy Cat]

I have coded a bot in the past that has harvested up to 1000s of links per page. I tried splitting them each time and it was okay the speed. I used regex to test its speed and found that regex ran much better. But I suppose it can change in most cases

That's because you had to call the Split method multiple times, with Regex you just have to call the Matches method once.