Javascript - using match to find two words and return all text between them (in spite of line breaks)

Question

I'm a pure amateur when it comes to programming, and javascript in particular, but I'm trying to work out a problem and I haven't had any luck finding a solution through extensive Google search.

I'm writing a short script to take a block of text that is copied from a website that always has a consistent format/layout, but different results, and paste it into large text field. Then you click a button and it extracts certain pieces of information from the text, and presents that information in a reformatted way.

I got it to work for a large part of what I want to do, but one section of the text includes multiple line breaks, and my match isn't working as a result. When this match fails it breaks the rest of it as well. Specifically I'm trying to pull the restaurant name, address, city & zip, and phone number from between the words "Restaurant:" and "Cuisine:" in the below text:

Guest Name: John Doe Phone: (555) 555-5555 Reservation Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015 Time: 6:00 PM Party Size: 2 Confirmation #: 1703515901 Restaurant: Café Boulud
20 East 76th St.
New York, NY 10021
(212) 772-2600 
Cuisine: French, American Message from the Restaurant: Thank you for making reservations at Cafe Boulud. FOR INTERNATIONAL GUESTS: Please leave your email address and full phone number in the space above. This information will be used to confirm your reservation with us. Our menu offers a wide range of a la carte options inspired by Chef Daniel Boulud's four culinary muses: la tradition, classic French cuisine; la saison, seasonal delicacies; le potager, the vegetable garden; and le voyage, the flavors of world cuisines.

Here's what I have written. It works for all of the reservation details, but not the restaurant details:

<HTML>

<HEAD>



<script>
    function getVal(){

        var val = document.getElementById('ta').value;

        reserved = val.match("Name: (.*) Phone:");
        date = val.match("Date: (.*) Time:");
        time = val.match("Time: (.*) Party");
        party = val.match("Size: (.*) Confirmation");
        confirmation = val.match("#: (.*) Restaurant:");
        restaurant = val.match("Restaurant: (.*) Cuisine:");
    }       


    function myFunction() {
        var myWindow = window.open("", "myWindow", "width=400, height=400");
        myWindow.document.write(restaurant[1]+"</p>"+"Reserved Under: "+reserved[1]+"</br>Date: "+
        date[1]+" at "+time[1]+"</br>Party Size: "+party[1]+"</br>Confirmation #: "+confirmation[1]

        );
    }


</script>

</HEAD>

<BODY>



</p>


<form>
    <textarea rows="30" cols="100" id="ta"></textarea></br>
    <button onclick="getVal(); myFunction();">Get Value</button>
</form>

</BODY>

</HTML>

it looks like the text block I copied didn't maintain the line breaks. There's a \n after "Cafe Boulud", "76th St.", "10021", and "(212) 772-2600" — Dave

Telokis Telokis · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-27T15:18:12

If you want to match EVERY single character, you have to do something like [\s\S]* instead of .*.

In your case, your regex should be "Restaurant: (\s\S*)Cuisine:" If I get it right, there is no space before "Cuisine" because there is a line break.

Demo :

Restaurant: ([\s\S]*)Cuisine:

Regular expression visualization

Debuggex Demo

HTML Live example :

function getVal(){

  var val = document.getElementById('ta').value;

  reserved = val.match("Name: (.*) Phone:");
  date = val.match("Date: (.*) Time:");
  time = val.match("Time: (.*) Party");
  party = val.match("Size: (.*) Confirmation");
  confirmation = val.match("#: (.*) Restaurant:");
  restaurant = val.match(/Restaurant: ([\s\S]*)Cuisine:/);
}       

getVal();
document.getElementById('result').innerHTML = "Restaurant : " +restaurant[1]+"\n"+"Reserved Under: "+reserved[1]+"\nDate: "+
  date[1]+" at "+time[1]+"\nParty Size: "+party[1]+"\nConfirmation #: "+confirmation[1];

#ta, #result
{
  width:100%;
  height:200px;
}

<h2>Text to parse :</h2>
<textarea id="ta">
Guest Name: John Doe Phone: (555) 555-5555 Reservation Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015 Time: 6:00 PM Party Size: 2 Confirmation #: 1703515901 Restaurant: Café Boulud
20 East 76th St.
New York, NY 10021
(212) 772-2600
Cuisine: French, American Message from the Restaurant: Thank you for making reservations at Cafe Boulud. FOR INTERNATIONAL GUESTS: Please leave your email address and full phone number in the space above. This information will be used to confirm your reservation with us. Our menu offers a wide range of a la carte options inspired by Chef Daniel Boulud's four culinary muses: la tradition, classic French cuisine; la saison, seasonal delicacies; le potager, the vegetable garden; and le voyage, the flavors of world cuisines.
</textarea>
<hr>
<h2>Result :</h2>
<textarea id="result">
</textarea>

Javascript - using match to find two words and return all text between them (in spite of line breaks)

1 Answers