Range.Replace with multiline Regex to detect data in word files

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

Hi Team,

We are trying to work out how to detect certain costumer numbers in word documents.
For that we have come up with the following regex:

@"(Customer Number|Customer No|Customer #|Customer#|CustomerID|Customerno|customernumber)\W*\d{9}\b"

which we try to use like this

int r = wordsDocument.Range.Replace(new Regex(@"(Customer Number|Customer No|Customer #|Customer#|CustomerID|Customerno|customernumber)\W*\d{9}\b", RegexOptions.None), “REPLACED”);

With RegexOptions.None this manages to locate the data across multiple lines even multiple cells of the same table.
Selection_113.png (688 Bytes)
Selection_114.png (11.7 KB)

However as soon as we add RegexOptions.Multiline as follows:

int r = wordsDocument.Range.Replace(new Regex(@"(Customer Number|Customer No|Customer #|Customer#|CustomerID|Customerno|customernumber)\W*\d{9}\b", RegexOptions.Multiline), “REPLACED”);

Aspose.Words does not detect data instances any more.

It is quite confusing why Multiline affects this regex, because it is supposed to change the behavior of regexes with ^ $ characters only.

Please help us understand this. Thank you.

FYI, I’ve attached an example application to demonstrate the above.

CustomerNumberDetectionInWord.zip (325.9 KB)

2

@zpopswat,

I have managed to reproduce this behavior on my end too. What I understand is that RegexOptions.Multiline option influences a regex pattern rather than a text being processed. And you can learn more about this Multiline mode in the following page:

However, for the sake of any corrections in Aspose.Words’ API, we have logged this problem in our issue tracking system. Your ticket number is WORDSNET-22417 . We will further look into the details of this problem and will keep you updated here on the status. We apologize for any inconvenience.

1 Like
3

The issues you have found earlier (filed as WORDSNET-22417) have been fixed in this Aspose.Words for .NET 21.8 update and this Aspose.Words for Java 21.8 update.