I'm having a hard time trying to select only n-length words between two words of a sentence : ex: for the statement : "this is the start some words are to be selected end no more select"
Let's say I'd like to select 3+ words between the word 'start' and 'end', the result would capture some, words, are selected ignoring to and be.
https://regex101.com/r/Ost7Wn/3
Just selecting [\w]{3,} is working by itself but I can't figure out how to put it between the words 'start' and 'end' in the sentence to match my n-letter words that appears only between them. I've tried many things, from lookaround to capture groups, but I really can't get it!
Any ideas ? Thanks
You may use this regex with a lookahead and \G:
(?:\bSTART\b|(?!^)\G)\h+(?!END\b).*?\b(\w{3,})(?=.*?\bEND\b)
RegEx Details:
(?:\bSTART\b|(?!^)\G): Match word START or starting from end of previous match match 0 or more words separated by 1+ whitespace.\G: asserts position at the end of the previous match or the start of the string for the first match\h+(?!END\b).*?(\w{4,}): Match 1+ whitespace followed 0 or more characters followed by a word of 4+ length which is captured in group #1(?=.*?\bEND\b): Lookahead to assert presence of word END ahead