Regex: Filename & Directory
Only file names, only directories, only after a specific directory, only before a specific directory, etc.
| Summary | Windows | Unix |
|---|---|---|
| File name | [^\\]+$ | [^/]+$ |
| Directories | ^.*\\ | ^.*/ |
| Since a specific directory | directory.*$ | directory.*$ |
| After a specific directory | (?<=directory\\).*$ | (?<=directory/).*$ |
| Until a specific directory | ^.*directory\\ | ^.*directory/ |
| Before a specific directory | .*\\(?=directory) | .*/(?=directory) |
* The difference between "Since/Until" and "After/Before" is whether the specified directory name is included or not.
Regex Usage Examples
Suppose you have the following text.
C:\Users\regex\Documents\foo.txt
C:\Users\regex\Documents\bar\baz.txt
C:\Users\regex\Documents\qux\qux\qux.txtRemoving filename from path
You can extract only directory paths by using [^\]+$ to search only for file names and replacing them with empty characters.
C:\Users\regex\Documents\
C:\Users\regex\Documents\bar\
C:\Users\regex\Documents\qux\qux\Removing directory from path
You can extract only file names by using ^.*\\ to search only for directory paths and replacing them with empty characters.
foo.txt
baz.txt
qux.txtRemoving only before a specific directory from path
Search up to a specific directory with ^.*Documents\\ and replace with an empty string to extract only the paths after the specific directory.
foo.txt
bar\baz.txt
qux\qux\qux.txt