I have the following regex that should be capturing 1 group on the first phrase, and three groups on the second phrase. But for some reason, when I add the optional group with the two right groups, it does not capture string one.
regex (case insensitive)
(^(?<FULLTEXT>.*))\s?(?:(?<AREA>[a-z]{4,4}).(?<SQRM>[\d]+))$
phrases
MASTER BEDROOM
LIVING ROOM LVRM 103
Phrases will always be: 1 - full text 2 - ends with AREA - which is 4 character string (always) + SQRM 3 digit (always). Anything before that is the fulltext.
Sentence #2 captures: FULLTEXT - LIVING ROOM AREA - LVRM SQRM - 103
Sentence #1 SHOULD capture FULLTEXT only, but it captures nothing....
Any suggestion is appreciated.
You may use
^(?<FULLTEXT>.*?)\s*(?:(?<AREA>[a-z]{4})\s*(?<SQRM>\d+))?$
See the regex demo
Details
^ - start of string(?<FULLTEXT>.*?) - Group "FULLTEXT": any 0 or more chars other than line break chars, as few as possible\s* - 0+ whitespaces(?:(?<AREA>[a-z]{4})\s*(?<SQRM>\d+))? - an optional sequence of
(?<AREA>[a-z]{4}) - Group "AREA": four letters\s* - 0+ whitespaces(?<SQRM>\d+) - Group "SQRM": 1+ digits$ - end of string.