Handy regexp to find all form field names in HTML with Lasso 9

By Jolle Carlestam

I was asked for a regexp solution that would find all form field names in an HTML file and return only a list of the names with everything else removed.

Since I misunderstood the demand I first created a Lasso 9 solution. Turned out the need was for a Bbedit version. So, anyway, here's what I came up with:

Lasso 9:

var(myhtml = '
<form action="./" method="post">
	<input type="hidden" name="-action" value="myaction" />
	<div>
		<p>
			<label for="fname" id="fname_label">
				First Name
			</label>
			<input type="text" name="fname" class="" id="fname" value="" size="30" />
		</p>
	</div>
	<div>
		<p>
			<label for="mname2" id="mname2_label">
				Middle Name
			</label>
			<input type="text" name="mname" class="" id="mname2" value="" size="30" />
		</p>
	</div>
	<div>
		<p>
			<label for="record_title" id="record_title_label">
				Last Name *
			</label>
			<input type="text" name="lname" class="" id="record_title" value="" size="30" />
		</p>
	</div>
	<div>
		<p>
			<label for="status12" id="status12_label">
				Status *
			</label>
			<select name="status" class="" id="status12">
				<option value="Active" selected="selected">
					Active
				</option>
				<option value="Inactive">
					Inactive
				</option>
				<option value="Blocked">
					Blocked
				</option>
			</select>
		</p>
	</div>
	<input type="hidden" value="true" name="retries" />
	<input type="submit" name="button_add" class="button first" id="button_add21" value="Add" />
	<input type="submit" name="button_cancel" class="button cancel" id="button_cancel22" value="Cancel" />
</form>
'
)

var(myregexp = regexp(-find = ` name *= *("|')(.*?)("|')`, -input = $myhtml, -ignorecase))

var(myresult = array)
while($myregexp -> find) => {
	$myresult -> insert($myregexp -> matchstring(2))
}
'<pre>'
$myresult -> join('\r')
'</pre>'

BBEdit:

Search for: ^(.*? name *= *)?(?(1)("|')(.*?)("|').*?(\r)|.*?\r)
Replace with. \3\5

Result in both:

-action
fname
mname
lname
status
retries
button_add
button_cancel

Note that the Bbedit version will fail if there's more than one name value on a row. The Lasso 9 solution handles that fine.

Author: Jolle Carlestam
Created: 7 May 2012
Last Modified: 7 May 2012