Changing regex so that it does not match words beginning with *?

Question

How would I change the regex "\b(\w|['-])+\b" so that it does not match words that start with *? I've tried to do it myself, but it is way beyond my knowledge of regular expressions.

Answer 1

You can add a lookaround to match if the prefix is absent: (?<!\*)

string input = "*Hello, World... Regex: it's *an art!";
string pattern = @"(?<!\*)\b(\w|['-])+\b";
foreach (Match m in Regex.Matches(input, pattern))
{
	Console.WriteLine(m.Value);
}

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Document my code? Why do you think it's called "code"?