Help selecting XML node value

Question

Hello,

I need to select the value off a certain xml node, however one of the letters can be a-z:

<b:icdSource>database</b:icdSource>

Looking to just get the value but the letter b can be anything a-z

Thanks

Answer 1

Maybe this can help you:

<([a-z]:\w*)>(?<Value>.*?)</\1>

You can substitute \w* with your own tag name like this: <([a-z]:icdSource)>(?<Value>.*?)</\1>

This is the regex explanation for:

<([a-z]:\w*)>(?<Value>.*?)</\1>

Match the character “<” literally «<»
Match the regular expression below and capture its match into backreference number 1 «([a-z]:\w*)»
   Match a single character in the range between “a” and “z” «[a-z]»
   Match the character “:” literally «:»
   Match a single character that is a “word character” (letters, digits, etc.) «\w*»
      Between zero and unlimited times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy) «*»
Match the character “>” literally «>»
Match the regular expression below and capture its match into backreference with name “Value” «(?<Value>.*?)»
   Match any single character that is not a line break character «.*?»
      Between zero and unlimited times, as few times as possible, expanding as needed (lazy) «*?»
Match the characters “</” literally «</»
Match the same text as most recently matched by capturing group number 1 «\1»
Match the character “>” literally «>»

Have a nice day.

Edit:

This is a possible implementation:

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string testSubject = @"<b:icdSource>database</b:icdSource><x:icdServer>server</x:icdServer>";
            Console.WriteLine(GetTagValue(testSubject, "icdSource"));
            Console.WriteLine(GetTagValue(testSubject, "icdServer"));
        }
        public static string GetTagValue(string xml, string tagName)
        {
            const string tagPatternFormat = @"<([a-z]:{0})>(?<Value>.*?)</\1>";
            string tagPattern = string.Format(tagPatternFormat, tagName);                        
            var match = Regex.Match(xml, tagPattern);
            if (match.Success)
            {
                return match.Groups["Value"].Value;
            }
            return string.Empty;
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

I guess, using XElement will be more flexible way to retrieve value:

Imports <xmlns:b="your_name_space">

Module Test

    Sub Main()

        Dim xml =
            <root>
                <b:icdSource>database</b:icdSource>
            </root>
        Console.WriteLine(xml.<b:icdSource>.Value)

        Console.Write("Press any key to exit...")
        Console.ReadKey()

    End Sub

End Module

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