regex to capture everything before string OR string

Hi,

I know this is possibly number 206:th question about regex on the internet in the last hour but...

I'm having trouble with these kinds of strings:
The Matrix.dvdrip.xvid
and
Shrek.xvid.dvdrip

I'm trying to extract the title to get the results
The.Matrix.
and
Shrek.

The problem is that I (sort of) know what "tags" that can occur, but not in what order.

I know that there are other (simple) solutions in C# but I'm trying to learn about regular expressions, and believe me I've learned a lot when trying to find a solution to this problem.

I believe something like this should work...

Code:

---

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace ConsoleApplication5
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            String filename1 = "The.Matrix.dvdrip.xvid";
            Console.WriteLine(filename1 + " = " + GetName(filename1));
            String filename2 = "Shrek.xvid.dvdrip";
            Console.WriteLine(filename2 + " = " + GetName(filename2));
            Console.Read();
        }

        static String GetName(String text)
        {
            Regex regex = new Regex("([a-zA-Z0-9\\.]+?).(xvid\\.dvdrip|dvdrip\\.xvid)", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);
            Match match = regex.Match(text);
            return match.Success ? match.Groups[1].Value : null;
        }
    }
}

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by theoobe

I believe something like this should work...

Code:

---

            Regex regex = new Regex("([a-zA-Z0-9\\.]+?).(xvid\\.dvdrip|dvdrip\\.xvid)", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);

---

---

Thank you for a very good answer, very kind to spend that much time.

Now I feel stupid for not saying that I don't know how many tags that can occur.

The input string could also be
Lord.of.the.rings.pal.TS.divx

So I need to cut the string at the first occurrence of any of the words:
pal,divx,xvid,dvdrip,ntsc,hdtv, and so on...

If its just stupid/impossible to do this with regex, please tell me and I'll make a loop :-)

Code:

---

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace ConsoleApplication5
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            String filename1 = "The.Matrix.dvdrip.xvid";
            Console.WriteLine(filename1 + " = " + GetName(filename1));
            String filename2 = "Shrek.xvid.dvdrip";
            Console.WriteLine(filename2 + " = " + GetName(filename2));
            String filename3 = "Lord.of.the.rings.pal.TS.divx";
            Console.WriteLine(filename3 + " = " + GetName(filename3));
            Console.Read();
        }

        static String GetName(String text)
        {
            Regex regex = new Regex("([a-zA-Z0-9\\.]+?).(pal|divx|xvid|dvdrip|ntsc|hdtv)", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);
            Match match = regex.Match(text);
            return match.Success ? match.Groups[1].Value : null;
        }
    }
}

---

:-)

Thank you!

Super fast and exactly what I was looking for !

I suspected I needed a non-greedy qualifier,
but I've tested them on the second group (pal|ntcs...

I feel like I'm much closer to actually understanding regex now

again, thank you!