Here is an example of what I'm trying to match:
Match everything after this:::
one
two
three
Match this also:::
one
two
three
___
but not this
My code:
const thing = /[^:]:::\n([\s\S]*)(_{3}|$)/gm
I want it to match everything AFTER ':::', but end either when it sees ___, or if that is not there, then the end of the text input, $.
It works for the FIRST example, but it continues to match the text after the ___ in the second example.
Any ideas how to make this right?
I'm only interested in the results in the first grouping. I had to group the (_{3}|$) otherwise it creates an infinite loop.
The pattern [^:]:::\n([\s\S]*)(_{3}|$) that you tried matches too much because [\s\S]* will match all the way to the end. Then when at the end of string, there is an alternation (_{3}|$) matches either 3 times an underscore or the end of the string.
Then pattern can settle matching the end of the string.
You could use a capture group, and match all following lines that do not start with ___
[^:](:::(?:\n(?!___).*)*)
[^:] Match any char except :( Capture group 1
::: Match literally(?:\n(?!___).*)* Match all consecutive lines that does not start with ___) Close group 1Or with a negative lookbehind if supported to get a match only, asserting not : to the left
(?<!:):::(?:\n(?!___).*)*