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DiapDealer · 08-03-2019, 05:33 PM

The main difference is that <p[^>]+> will never get "greedy" no matter what kind of regex engine or settings might be being used. Whereas <p.*?> is inherently greedy and can include more than you want.

It's just generally considered a bit universally safer when trying to limit your match to within a single html element. It will never cross the single tag boundary.

Try your original regex <p.*?> on the following markup for example:

Code:

<p><span class="rule_24">The Everyman’s</span> description</p>

EDIT: What @Tex2002ans said... with an example.

08-03-2019, 05:33 PM	#30
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,709 Karma: 205039118 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	The main difference is that <p[^>]+> will never get "greedy" no matter what kind of regex engine or settings might be being used. Whereas <p.?> is inherently greedy and can include more than you want. It's just generally considered a bit universally safer when trying to limit your match to within a single html element. It will never cross the single tag boundary. Try your original regex <p.?> on the following markup for example: Code: <p><span class="rule_24">The Everyman’s</span> description</p> EDIT: What @Tex2002ans said... with an example.